Stupefy
by KellieLynn1822
Summary: He passes her everyday, she watches him everday. Can one chance of eye-contact set fire to emotions that neither were prepare for?
1. Chapter 1

_You don't know what your power has done to me  
__I want to know if I'll heal inside  
__I can't go on with a holocaust about to happen  
Seeing you laughing another time_

_You'll never know why your face has haunted me  
__My very soul has to bleed this time  
Another hole in the wall of my inner defenses  
Leaving me breathless, the reason I know  
_

_That I am stricken and can't let you go  
__When the heart is cold, there's no hope, and we know  
That I am crippled by all that you've done  
Into the abyss will I run  
Stricken- _Disturbed

I've seen her everyday this summer

Twice-a-day.

In the morning, her filthy baseball hat lies on the ground, hoping to be filled with something.

In the evening, she wears it tightly on her head with her long matted hair tangled beneath it.

She was always in the same place, her back pressed against my apartment building, the lump of her black Labrador companion lying next to her. She called the dog Minnie, I named the woman Mickey.

Mickey wore an almost threadbare flannel jacket and faded black jeans, on her feet were a pair of thoroughly worn black high-top Converse. On top of clothes that Mickey wore was a layer of dirt, mostly noticeable on the knees of her jeans, her bruised and cut hands, and in smudges across her face.

Mickey was there everyday, I never gave her anything.

Never slipped a single coin into her hat though I could obviously tell she needed it, never gave her a friendly smile. I would simply look at her as I walked past her, wondering why someone would let themselves go like this, punish themselves to a life like the one she had. Mickey never saw me looking at her; she kept her eyes trained on her hat, as if only by looking at it, it would bring her what she needed.

I've seen him everyday this summer.

Twice-a-day.

In the morning, he would step out of the revolving door of his apartment complex. He was always perfectly shaven, not a hair on his head out of place, wearing a suit that probably cost more than I had ever had in my lifetime.

In the evening, he would walk by with his shirt untucked and his tie loosened, but his hair was still meticulously in place.

I could always tell that he was looking at me, even though when I tried to catch him he was always conspicuously looking away. I'm a car wreck, you know, you shouldn't look but you just can't help it.

I had named him Mr. Suits because in my head I was tired of calling him, him, and Mr. Suits seemed to be a good name for him.

He never gave me anything, its not like I expected him to, most people didn't. When the sun went down I usually only had about five dollars with which I would buy a sandwich and a bottle of water for me and Minnie to share.

Mr. Suits always looked at me as if I were trash, a sub-human who shouldn't exist. Did he think I chose this life?

I step out into the brisk November in New York morning with a tight grip on my cup of coffee and make my way down the front stairs and onto the sidewalk on my way to work. I glance over to where I know she will be. Its forty-four degrees and cloudy, yet there she sits. Mickey has Minnie sitting in her lap with her jacket zipped up around both of them. The dog is so large that it almost looks like it is the one wearing the jacket. Mickey has her legs tucked underneath her and her arms pulled inside of the jacket, obviously cold. Despite the biting weather, her hat is still resting in front of her. She leans her head against Minnie's back and turns her face in my direction. Now usually I can look away before she ever looks up, but this time, for the first time, she catches me.

Mickey has brown eyes.

Beautiful brown eyes, unlike the brown dirt that covers her. I stop for a moment as I am entranced by her gaze. I watch as her eyes shift to my right hand. Anger flashes in her warm chocolate eyes, her eyebrows furrow and her nostrils flare. Is she angry with me? I look to my right hand to see what had gotten her so defensive, my steaming cup of coffee, its warmth being wasted into the frigid air. I take a sip of the coffee as I walk past her. It burns down my throat and the heat radiates throughout my body.

"Get a job and you can have coffee," I say over my shoulder to her. I hear Minnie growl in response.

I hate him.

As he walked away all I wanted to do was sic Minnie on him. How could someone be so calloused? I know we're in New York and it's not exactly the capital of niceness, but to be outright mean to someone? There was no need for that.

It is so cold. I spent the night hugging Minnie to me, trying to keep her and I warm, but we both shivered the night away. I had to find someplace for us, sure there were homeless shelters, but they wanted to know too much, too many questions with answers I couldn't give them. I am trapped.

The clouds dissipate by mid-day and the sun is allowed to warm up the city. I unzip my jacket and let Minnie out to go for a stroll. I don't know what I would do without her, I've had her since she was a puppy, and she has always stuck by my side. I take my jacket off and lay it out to soak up as much of the sun's heat as possible.

I see Minnie trot back in my direction with something large hanging out of her mouth. She sits obediently in front of me and drops an enormous rat at my feet. She nudges the dead rat with her paw as an offering to me.

I smile and pat her head, "It's all your's, baby girl," she nudges it one more time as a last chance, "Go ahead, Minnie." She grabs the rat in her mouth as she moves to my side and devours it.

"Mommy, look!" a little girl says as she passes us, "Look at the cute doggy!" she steps closer to Minnie which causes her to snarl, protecting her food.

"That's disgusting, Sarah, get away from her," the mother snaps.

"Dogs have to eat too, lady," I say, defending Minnie.

"I know, I was talking about you, bum," she snatches her daughter's hand and walks away.

The dog killed and ate a rat. Not just a normal rat, a huge, mutant sewer rat. I'm pretty sure that four turtles are crying over having lost their master. Nasty.

I am eating lunch with some friends and colleagues at the deli across from where Mickey sits. She has not seen me, luckily. I had been thinking about what I had said to her all morning and I came to the conclusion that it was the most dicktastic thing I had ever said to anyone.

"What's got you spaced out?" my friend Emmett asks.

"Nothing," I say as I continue to stare at Mickey. I had to figure out some way to apologize to her. I didn't want her thinking that I was mean or a bad person or some shit like that.

"Why are you staring down that bum across the street?" he questions.

"She's not a bum!"

"Whoa, sorry man."

Why was I staring at her? Why did it matter if I was rude to her this morning? I had been ignoring her ever since she showed up, never letting her catch me looking at her. Why was today so different?

I look across the road and find her eyes boring back into mine, twice in one day. A car passes by, breaking the connection we shared. I look once more in her direction, she's staring up at the sky with her lips moving, saying words that I can't hear. I wanted to know what she was saying; I wanted to know about her, why?

"Back to work!" Alice's voice tears me away from Mickey. I gather my trash, a half eaten sandwich and a bag of chips and throw them away.

Mr. Suits threw his food away.

Not just a few scraps of food, almost a whole sandwich, and a bag of chips. Does he know that many people are lucky to have half of that? That I would have done just about anything to get that food that he just carelessly tossed away? And then the staring, what was up with that? He was really beginning to creep me out; maybe I need to find a new place to stay. I really don't want to leave right here, there is a good flow of people throughout the day and I've been getting more money than I ever had anywhere else. Damn it, why did Mr. Suits have to ruin this for me? Minnie bumps her nose against my arm, I pat my lap and she curls up over my legs. I lay my head back against the wall and close my eyes.

I wake to Minnie shivering and licking my face. The sun is setting and the temperature is dropping rapidly. Shit. I reach for my jacket that I had laid out earlier and find that it isn't there. Who steals a jacket from a homeless person? There is no way I'll survive tonight with out my jacket, all I have on is a thin cotton t-shirt and my hat. I hug Minnie tightly to my body, "I love you, Minnie," I whisper to her. Minnie whimpers and pressed her cold, wet nose to my cheek. I know she loves me as well.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mr. Suits jog past us and enter his heated building. Bastard.

Tears begin to fall from my eyes only causing ice-cold rivers to sting my face.

Its thirty fucking degrees. I wish I would have driven to work today; I now have to walk home in this ridiculously cold weather. I pull my coat tightly around me and walk as fast as I can, then I see Mickey. Her jacket is gone, who would steal a jacket from a homeless person? She is holding on as tightly as she can to Minnie, but they are both shivering uncontrollably. She'll die out here in this weather.

An unfamiliar feeling washes over me, I want to protect this woman, I need to protect her. The thought of her dying makes my heart cease up. I jog past her and stumble up the stairs as fast as I can. I race to my apartment and find the thickest blanket I possibly can.

I make it back outside to find Mickey violently shivering, her eyes are squeezed shut and I could tell she had been crying, her quivering lips had turned blue. Minnie wasn't fairing much better.

I crouch down beside her, "Mick-, uh, Miss," I remind myself that her name isn't Mickey. Her eyes pop open at the sound of my voice.

"What?" she croaks.

"You need to come inside," I wrap the blanket around her, her shivering slacks just a bit.

"With you?"

"Miss, you will die out here, please come inside," I offer her my hand to help her up. She ignores my offer and stands up on her own, still holding Minnie. Her body is dwarfed by the dog's size; Minnie had to weigh about seventy pounds.

That's when it hits me, she wants to bring the dog with her, "My apartment doesn't allow pets."

"Well, if she can't come, I'm not either. I can't leave her out here," she says sternly. Would she seriously risk her life to stay with the dog? She hands me my blanket and resumes her place on the ground, shivering. Yes, she would.

"Okay, we can sneak in the back entrance," I relent. She stands once more with Minnie in her arms; I am astonished by her strength. She follows me down an alley into the back entrance of the complex. We make it to the service stairwell when I hear her talking, "Minnie, can you walk? Momma can't carry you much longer," I turn around and see the dog actually nod its head. She sets Minnie down and they continue to follow me up the stairs.

We finally reach my apartment. I hold the door and Mickey and Minnie enter. I've got to find out her real name, calling the woman Mickey just seemed childish now. It was apparent that she was no child.

I turn on my artificial fireplace and go to the kitchen to fix two mugs of coffee. Mickey stands timidly by the door with Minnie in front of her acting as her guard.

"You're not going to do anything to me, are you?" she asks. Do anything to her?

"Um, no," I say, unsure what she was implying.

"Good," she replies. She walks over to the fireplace and lies down in front of it, Minnie curls up beside her.

The coffee is done and I pour two cups. I walk over by the fireplace, "You know that stone is pretty uncomfortable," no response. Then I realize that she has been sleeping on stone for awhile, at least this was warm stone, "Here, I poured you some coffee," I try again, still no response. I move to get a better look at her face, her eyes are closed and her mouth is slightly parted, a light snore escapes her. I smile.

She is safe, she is asleep.

**Hello Everyone! I hope you enjoyed this, let me know what you think by leaving a review. I am going to continue **_**Adventure**_**, but while writing it this story line popped in my head and I decided to run with it. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Just stop enough of the limitless critical comments on my life_  
_Just drop the judgment and all of your pseudo-involvement in my life_  
_Step back a moment, and look at the miracle starting in our life_  
_Don't stop the moment, and let the incredible happen knowing that_  
_All that you want is to criticize_  
_Something for nothing_  
_And all that I want is forgiveness one more time_  
_To be the best in the world_

_Just Stop- Disturbed_

_How can it possibly be six-thirty already?_

It feels like I fell asleep only ten minutes ago. I sit up and put my feet on the tile floor, instantly pulling them back. My floor had to be forty degrees below ass-freezing cold. Ugh. I run my hands over my face trying to wake myself up.

A door opens and closes in my apartment.

Mickey.

I run into my living room, but she's gone. On the floor in front of the fireplace is a slip of paper.

_Thank you._

I notice that the blanket I placed over her and Minnie last night is missing, this brings me some relief, but I still need to find her, I need to know that she is okay.

Still in my plaid pajama pants, I slip on black boots and pull a coat on over my bare chest. I race down the back entrance stairs. The frozen air bites at my face and exposed chest. Minnie sits in her spot wrapped in my blanket, Mickey is no where to be found.

I cautiously kneel by Minnie. She's not happy to see me, a growl rumbles in her chest and raise my hands, showing I mean no harm.

"Where'd she go?" Minnie looks at me with almost human-like expression in her eyes. Her whiskered eyebrow rises as if to ask, _"Why should I tell you?"_

"I just want to know if she's okay," I am talking to a dog. I feel so foolish. Minnie places her paw on my frozen hand and looks past me; I turn to see what she is looking at.

The deli. I look through the window and see Mickey standing in the check-out line. She steps out with a sandwich and bottle of water in hand. She stops abruptly when she sees me and her eyes widen as I offer her a polite wave.

_Holy Shit._

_His hair is messed up._

_Mr. Suits' hair is in complete disarray._

_And he's waving… at me?_

_What the fuck is he wearing?_

All of this passes through my mind as I step out of the deli and stare at the man standing in my spot. I make my way across the street, dodging morning traffic along the way. Minnie walks to my side and licks my hand in greeting. I am still mesmerized by the fact that Mr. Suits' hair isn't naturally shellacked to his head. It must take ten pounds of hair product to get his hair from looking like it does now, to when he goes to work. His locks stand off his head in every direction, and it's a shade that I've never seen before, a warm coppery-bronze color.

I want to run my fingers through it.

_What!_

Mr. Suits' voice breaks me out of my hair reverie, "Why did you leave?" He looks hurt…why?

"We were hungry?" Why should he care if we left? I thought he would be happy about our leaving.

"Oh, um, ok," he stutters.

"Why are you out here?" I ask skeptically, its balls freezing cold and he's in his pajamas.

"I, well, um," he looks confused, "are you okay?" he tumbles out.

Why does he care? He's ignored me, well pretended to ignore me, ever since I got here. What makes today so different? I am still the same homeless girl that I was when I got here.

"I'm fine," I say defensively, "I can take care of myself."

I sit down and wrap the blanket around Minnie and me. He's still standing there.

"Do you want your blanket back?" I ask.

"Oh no, you can keep it." Of course, it's tainted with homeless person, not good enough for any decent human to use anymore.

I unwrap the sandwich I bought and give half to Minnie. Why isn't he leaving? Mr. Suits pulls his jacket tighter around his chest, "You know it's a lot warmer inside."

He looks contemplative, "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did," I say with a mouth full of sandwich.

A little smirk creeps across his face, "Can I ask two questions?"

"Sure, you can ask forty-two questions, but that doesn't mean you'll get an answer to any of them."

"Um, okay," he chuckles, "What is your name?"

"Rosalie Hale." _Lie._

Rosalie Hale, now I can finally stop calling her Mickey.

"That's a very pretty name," I compliment.

"Yep," she answers plainly, she looks at me expectantly.

"Um, my name is Edward Cullen," I offer.

"Cool," she says with a mouth full of food, ew, "Aren't you going to be late for work?"

Shit, I've never been late a day in my life.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I should get going."

"Probably," Why was she being so short with me?

"Do you need anything? I can bring you something when I come back down."

She stands up, Minnie steps in front of her, guarding, "Listen Edward, I appreciate what you did last night for us, I really do, but I don't need your help. To be honest, you're freaking me out with the whole 'nice' act. So, why don't we just go back to ignoring each other? It's better that way."

_What a bitch._

I say nothing as I turn and walk back to my warm apartment.

I'm pulling on my coat as I step onto the sidewalk. I try not to look at her, but my head snaps her way. She's drinking from the bottle of water she bought earlier. She drinks about half and holds it up to Minnie. Minnie takes the bottle with her teeth and tilts her head back, drinking the rest of the water.

Rosalie looks up but this time she doesn't catch me staring. I continue walking but I can feel her glaring at me. I don't understand what I did to myself in the "freak" category

_I'll just let her freeze tonight._

No, you won't.

_Why not? What is she to me?_

_I don't even know her._

_She's not even attractive._

Liar.

Damn it, I was arguing with myself.

I finally make it to work forty-five minutes later. I take my coat off and sit down at my desk. I am exhausted and it's only eight o'clock. Instead of working, I lay my head down on my desk and close my eyes. I can't stop thinking about Rosalie.

"So, what made you so late to work, Mr. Cullen?" I lift my head slightly to see Alice perched on my desk, wearing a very tight skirt and very low-cut shirt. _Damn. _She's smirking at me.

"I, ah, overslept," I'm a terrible liar.

"Edward Cullen? The man who sets three alarm clocks, overslept?" I nodded, "Never thought I'd see the day."

She hops off of my desk and saunters out of my office. Wow, she actually bought it.

"Oh!" Alice pops back in the doorway, "It's Friday intoxication time tonight, you gonna be there?"

"Aren't I always, Alice?" It had become a tradition, every Friday night Emmett, Alice and I would go to a bar and get a little tipsy.

"I can't wait," she winks. I watch her ass sway back and forth as she walks away. _Neither can I._

It's amazing what people throw away. I left Minnie to guard my hat and walked down the alley by the apartment complex to the dumpster.

I scale the side of the dumpster and peer inside. I had become an expert at differentiating between which bags contained food waste and which ones contained other trash that I could actually use. I move aside the top bags and find a promising one tucked in the corner. I split the bag open and examine the contents.

"Hot damn!" I say to myself as I pull out a half empty bottle of shampoo. It's been weeks since I've washed my hair with actual shampoo. I continue my plundering and after twenty minutes, I hop down from the dumpster, feeling accomplished.

All-in-all I've found a pair of thick socks, well they were mismatched but I'm really not picky, a slightly holey long-sleeve shirt, and shampoo.

I won't freeze tonight!

I carry my spoils back to my spot and find that I have twenty dollars in my hat; I should leave it with Minnie more often.

Elated by my recent findings, I treat Minnie and myself to a Coke. As the caffeine moves through my veins, my body becomes jittery. I love it.

I feel alive.

Minnie licks my cheek and I pull her into my lap and rub her belly. I look across the street and see a man forcefully pull a woman to his side and look angrily into her eyes; my happiness fades as an unwelcome memory opens itself to me…

"_Okay," I say to myself, "I need to finish my English paper and study for that History test," I finally make it to my dorm room, "What was that other thing I needed to do?" I put my key into the lock and find that it's already unlocked; Rose must have gotten out of class early. The lights are off; maybe she's across the hall taking a shower. I stumble in the dark to my bed and plop my armful of books down. I reach over to my desk and switch on my light._

"_Holy shit!" Royce, Rose's fiancé, sits on her bed, "You scared me!"_

_He chuckles, "I'm sorry, that was not my intention," he says smoothly._

"_Is Rose in the shower?"_

"_No, she's still in class."_

"_Oh okay," I was confused, "Um, what are you doing here?" He stands and moves close to me, grabbing my wrists in his large, rough hands, "Royce, that hurts. What's going on? What do you want?" I plead._

"_You," he says harshly as he crashes his lips to mine…_

I force myself to back to the present, cursing the couple who are now walking hand-in-hand. I hate when this happens, the flashbacks that thrust themselves upon me just when I begin to feel the smallest amount of happiness.

What started out as a shitty day turned out to be a pretty decent one. Thinking about going out tonight kept my mind off of Rosalie, but only just. There was still this nagging part of my brain that wanted to know more about the woman. The work day was winding down and I was going through the process of shutting down my computer, exiting out of web pages and saving documents, the last page on my desk top was Google and that nagging feeling became a full-blown desire to know more about Rosalie. So, I type her name into the search engine, hoping that something will pop up and answer my questions.

Before I can click "search" Emmett bounds into my office, "Eddie! Let's go, man. We got chicks waiting on us," I reluctantly shut down my computer and follow Emmett out of the building.

"Hey, Al and I are coming over to your place to pregame then we'll figure out where to go from there."

"That sounds good, Em. See you about eight?"

"Sure thing, Eddie," I shoot him a dirty look as we part ways. I hate when people call me Eddie.

I sneak a sly glance at Rosalie as I pass by her. She's wearing a black long sleeve shirt over her white shirt. Her head is resting against Minnie's abdomen and she has her eyes closed, she looks peaceful, but what is she going to do tonight? Its going to be freezing again, the temperature is already dropping. She's already clearly stated that she didn't want my help, but she obviously doesn't know what's good for her, she can't stay out here in the cold. By the time I make it into my apartment, I've come up with three solutions. The first one would be to kidnap her, but I didn't see that one going over very well, Minnie wouldn't even let me get close enough to attempt it. I could just let her sit out in the cold and freeze, but I knew I wouldn't let that happen. _Why did I feel so attached to this woman? _My final solution was to try reasoning with her.

I walk back to her and sit on the concrete in front of her. Minnie growls and Rosalie stirs, but keeps her eyes closed, "Rosalie," I say softly, I move my hand to touch her shoulder but Minnie bares her teeth and snarls, "I've got to talk to her, Minnie," I try to calm the dog, "Can you wake her up?

Minnie nudges Rosalie's face and she opens her eyes, "What's wrong, Min?" she says in a sleepy voice. Minnie tilts her head in my direction. Rosalie's eyes pop open, "Damn it, Mr. Suits. What do you want?" _Mr. what? _

"I just wanted to talk to you."

"Why?"

"You know it's going to be just as cold tonight as it was last night, you can't stay out here," she looks at me defiantly.

"I found this long sleeve shirt and some thick socks, plus I have your blanket I think I'll be okay."

Was she really that naïve? "A blanket and a long sleeve shirt is not going to protect you from the weather," I sound like a parent.

"We'll see, and if it doesn't well then there will be one less person in this world to worry about."

"Why don't you go to one of the homeless shelters around here?"

She looks angry, "Because I can't," she spits.

"Why not?" I ask sincerely.

"Because it's none of your fucking business. None of this is, okay. Just leave me alone, go back into your warm apartment and sit by your cozy fireplace, and enjoy what you have of your life. Stop worrying, stop thinking about me and stop looking at me when you pass by," she sees me looking at her?

"Why are you being such a bitch?" _Wrong question._

Minnie barks at me and snaps her teeth in my face. I stand up, moving away from the beast and its owner, "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I am going to leave the back entrance door propped open. Now, this is totally up to you, when you get too cold you can come up to my apartment and stay, I'll leave the door unlocked, and no questions asked. I won't even talk to you if you don't want me to, please just don't stay out here."

Rosalie looks up at me, "Why do you even care?"

"I don't know," I say honestly, "I just do."

I return to my apartment, praying that Rosalie will take my offer. I jump in the shower and as I step out I hear a soft knock on my door. Wearing only my towel, I sprint to my door, hoping that it's Rosalie.

"Rosa-," Alice stands in my doorway with a devilish grin on her face, "Oh, hey Al."

"I dress up all special for you and 'Oh, hey Al,' that's all I get? Shit, I'll go put on my sweatpants," she turns to leave and I grab her by her waist.

"Oh, no," I laugh, "Let me get a good look at you," she was right, she did get dressed up. She had on a tight black dress with purple tights and black stilettos; her black hair is in soft curls that hit her shoulders, _nice,_ "Eh, that'll do," I tease.

"Ass," she punches my arm.

"You know you look good, Al," I move to kiss her on the cheek, but she turns her head just in time for my lips to touch hers, "Is that cotton candy?" I ask, licking my lips.

"Yep," she giggles, "You want some more?"

"Maybe later," I wink. My relationship with Alice was a tricky one. When I moved to the city and started my job at the bank I manage now, Alice was the first friend I made and the one who showed me around the city. We had slept together a few times over the year and a half that I have been here, but we've never delved into anything serious. We both know that we were attracted to each other, but we want to keep our options open.

"Is it safe?" Emmett knocks on the open door with his eyes covered.

"Yeah, you asshat," Alice says. Emmett has always been cracking jokes about Alice and I ever since he walked in on us making out in my office.

He uncovers his eyes and steps into my apartment, "Ah, no it isn't! Where are your pants, Eddie? Alice, you already got them off? Damn, you're fast."

"Fuck you," Alice laughs as I go to my room to get dressed. When I return to the kitchen I see that the party started without me. Alice and Emmett are doing shots of tequila, "Here ya go my man," Emmett hands me a shot and I toss it back. I toss another two down and start feeling good. Really good.

"Intoxication time!" I shout as we leave my apartment. I remind myself not to lock it.

Outside, I force myself not to look at Rosalie. I keep my eyes and thoughts focused on Alice as I put my arm around her waist and pull her to me.

He's with another woman, why does this hurt me?

**Hey! I want to thank everyone who responded to the last chapter, that means so much to me! As always let me know what you think. Oh! I am also posting links to polyvores of my profile so check it out! Thank you for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is a really short chapter, so sorry. My computer decided that it did not want to work anymore, so I lost some of this chapter, but I promise there will be a longer chapter soon.**

_Why, do you like playing around with  
__My, narrow scope of reality  
I, can feel it all start slipping  
I think I'm breaking down  
Why, do you like playing around with  
My, narrow scope of reality  
I, can feel it all start slipping away  
See but I don't get it  
Don't you think maybe we could put it on credit_

_Don't you think it can take control when I don't let it  
I get stupified_

_It's all the same you say_

_Live with it but I don't get it_

_Stupify- _Disturbed

He didn't even look at me. His attention was solely focused on that flirtatious pixie of woman. It felt as if someone had punched me in the chest. What was it about seeing them together that made me feel this way? I had done nothing but push Mr. Suits away, why did I now want to push that woman away from him, preferably off of a cliff?

And why did it have to be so damn cold?

I pull the blanket tighter around Minnie and me. She has been shaking uncontrollably ever since the sun set. I hate that she has to go through this; I hug her closer to my body and run my hands up and down her back, hoping to warm her up.

I think back to night before, I was terrified when he invited me in; if I didn't have Minnie I wouldn't have gone. The thought of being alone with a man petrified me, but sleeping by Edward's fireplace was awesome. I hadn't felt so warm or so safe in a long time. The inexplicable safety I felt alarmed me. I am so used to always being careful, always being on my toes, knowing what's going on around me, who's near and ways to escape, but last night I was sound asleep within one minute of my head touching the ground.

Fuck, I can't take the cold anymore.

"Come on, Minnie," I gather the blanket around me and pick up my bottle of shampoo.

Light bulb!

Edward isn't home, I can sneak a shower.

I smile widely as I push open the alleyway door. Inside the stairwell with the biting wind off of us, Minnie jumps up and places her paws on my chest. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into a hug. She licks my face excitedly, "Let's go, girl."

I dash up to the third floor with Minnie right on my heels.

_Which one is his? _I vaguely recall seeing the number last night, was it 718 or 720?

Minnie trots ahead of me, her nose to the ground. Half way down the corridor, she barks.

"Minnie, you have to be quiet," I snap as I quickly walk to her. She lowers her head and places her paw on my leg, her apology, "It's okay, is this the room?" I ask her. She wags her tail repeatedly, 718 it is.

I turn the handle, it opens, and I smile with relief.

He's left on a lamp and the kitchen light. Three shot glasses and a bottle of tequila sit on the kitchen table, looks like they are in for a fun night.

Under the kitchen table something sparkly catches my eye, a rhinestone wallet. That woman must have left it.

Shit, would she come back for it?

Just as the thought crosses my mind I hear Edward's voice in the corridor.

I drop the wallet, "Minnie," I whisper as I run for a room. She follows behind me; I open a door and throw myself inside, still holding on to my blanket and shampoo. I shut the door as I hear Edward enter the apartment.

"Where'd you leave it?" he asks.

"I set it on the table when came in," I hear an extremely feminine, obnoxiously high-pitched voice say.

"Here it is, it fell on the floor," Edward says.

"Oh, stay just like that, I'm loving this angle," the pixie giggles.

"Are you staring at my ass, Miss Brandon?"

"What're you going to do about it?" she says seductively. _I'm gonna punch you in the throat…_

Edward chuckles, "Come on, Al, we don't want to keep Emmett waiting or we'll be hearing about it all night."

I hear the door click shut, they're gone.

Where did that jealously come from? I have no claim on Edward; he doesn't even know my real name. I promised myself I would never let jealousy take over; it didn't work out so well for me last time.

Once I am positive that the coast is clear, I locate a switch and turn on an overhead light.

I am in Edward's bedroom.

I force myself not to snoop; his stuff is not my business. I quickly scan to his room, it's obsessively tidy, but I wouldn't expect anything else from him. I exit his room and cross the hall, peering into a doorway and finding the bathroom.

"Minnie, go sit in the living room, if you hear anything come get me, okay?" I pet her head and she assumes her post.

I hastily pull my clothes off and turn the water on. I keep it as hot as I can tolerate. I let the water hit me directly in the face, loving the heat. I pour a large amount of the shampoo in my hand and massage it onto my hair. It smells delicious like strawberry and coconut. I let the lather run down my body, its suds tickling and caressing my unwashed skin. I scrub my face and body with my hands removing the dirt and impurities that have almost become a second skin. I step out of the shower feeling cleaner than I ever have.

I use the towel that is hanging over the back of the toilet, careful to replace it just how it was. I stare at my filthy clothes, but reluctantly put them back on.

My logic tells me that Edward won't be returning for awhile, what with all of the alcohol and pixie I'm sure he'll be well taken care of for the night. I turn on the electric fireplace and curl up on the floor next to it, Minnie joins me.

_I'm only resting my eyes, and then I'll leave, _I tell myself.

**Thank you for reading! As always, let me know what you think. Reviews are better than staring at Edward's ass… well maybe not, but they are pretty amazing:) **


	4. Chapter 4

_I must have dreamed a thousand dreams  
Been haunted by a million screams  
But I can hear the marching feet  
They're moving into the street  
Now, did you read the news today?  
They say the danger has gone away  
But I can see the fire's still alight  
They're burning into the night  
There's too many men, too many people  
Making too many problems  
And there's not much love to go around  
Can't you see this is a land of confusion?  
Land of Confusion-_ Disturbed

"Do you know fucking hot you look tonight?" Alice slurs as she grips my hips with her tiny hands and pulls my body to hers.

"Do you know how drunk you are tonight?" I counter, trying to loosen her grasp on me. Our slight intoxication time had turned into full-blown drunken time for Alice. While I had only had the three shots in my apartment and a beer at the club, she had knocked back four shots of whiskey, some pink girly drink, and despite my belief that she couldn't possibly hold anymore alcohol, she was now sipping on a beer.

"I'm not drunk, Eddieboy, only tinda kipsy," she giggles as her hands snake their way to my ass.

"Hey, Alice Asshands," Emmett guffaws as he lumbers across the sparsely crowded dance floor and finds us near the bar. The club we chose isn't as busy as it usually is on a Friday night, the cold must be keeping people indoors.

Alice removes her hands and flips him off, "You're just jealous you can't grab an assful of Edward's hand, Emmett Schimett," she stammers and laughs.

"Maybe you should get her home, man," Emmett waggles his eyebrows suggestively. There is no way that I would take advantage of Alice given her current state of inebriation, "I'm going to head out, I'll see you both bright eyed and bushy-tailed on Monday," I watch as Emmett leaves with a big breasted, blonde headed woman in tow.

I look at my watch, _damn, _its two o'clock, "Al, it's time to head home."

She looks up at me with glassy eyes and a smirk, "You want me to give you head when we get home?" she chuckles, "Why Mr. Eddie, that's awfully forward of you." _Wow, she's wasted._

"Uh no, it's time to leave, Alice," I try again.

"Oh, okay," her smile drops. She takes two steps away from me and runs into a table, nearly falling to the floor, "Shitfuck, where'd you come from?" she yells at the table. I suppress a laugh and help her regain her balance. I secure my arm around her waist and halfway carry her out of the club. The artic air instantly sobers me, but only seems to immobilize Alice.

"Come on, Al, we have to go," I nudge her.

"This is so unnecessary. There is no reason for it to be this cold," she whimpers as she tries to keep up with my brisk pace.

I walk up to Alice's apartment and help her get into bed. I place a glass of water and some aspirin on her bedside table, knowing that she will definitely need it in the morning. I move a trashcan near her bed as well, for when her body decides it doesn't want the alcohol she forced into it.

I turn out the light and open the door to leave, "You're not staying?" her raspy voice asks.

"Not tonight, Al," I say.

"I'll make it worth your while," she sits up.

"You need some sleep, Alice."

"Did I do something wrong? You've never turned me down before, Edward," she's right, I never have turned her down before, why now?

"No, Al, you haven't done anything wrong," I try to explain, "It's late, you've had a lot to drink and I.." she looks at me expectantly as I try to come up with an excuse. I could really use a Twix bar, "I, uh," my eyes fall on a pair of black Converse in Alice's closet.

Rosalie.

"Whatever, Edward, just fucking leave," Alice says angrily. She throws her head back against the pillows and pull the blanket over her head.

"Sorry, Al," I say as I leave.

I waste no time getting home, sprinting the whole way. The cold air fills my lungs and makes my throat dry. I reach the spot where she usually sits, but she isn't there.

_My bronze-headed savior jumps through the window, knocking aside the evil-doer in my dorm room. I watch in awe as my hero wrestles the fiend to the floor wearing nothing more than a black tie and grey suit pants with a white button down shirt tied around his neck as a cape._

"_Your reign of terror is over, nemesis," my hero says as he swiftly throws the monster out of the open window._

"_You've saved me!" I exclaim. He steps toward me, his hair catching the cool breeze and sunlight and turning it into a lush, undulating field of golden wheat. His emerald eyes transform into brilliant shade of green that I can think of no name for, "How can I ever repay you?" I plead._

_He gently takes my hand in his and places a soft kiss on each of my knuckles. He presses his sweat-glistened bare chest against my body and lightly tilts my chin up, my eyes once more connecting to his, "Just be mine," he answers as his lips set upon mine. His kiss is captivating, he moves unhurriedly, matching my movements with his own leaving me breathless. He parts from the kiss, panting just as I am. His gaze burns into mine as his tongue slips between lips and he turns my head, licking my face from my chin to my hairline._

My eyes pop open to see Minnie standing over me, panting with her tongue drooping out of the side of her mouth. She whimpers and rubs her snout against my face. Her paws rake against my arm, "What's up, Min?" I say still drowsy from my sleep. Her head bobs between the door and me. I glance at the clock on the wall, expecting to see that only fifteen or twenty minutes had passed, I was wrong.

"Shit, shit, shit, Minnie, its two-fifteen," I scramble to my feet. How could I have slept for that long? Minnie looks at me with an expression that says "I tried to tell you." Had Edward come home? I tiptoe to his room and peek into through the door. It's dark, but his bed is still made. He's not back yet.

I gather my things and get out of there as fast as I can. Minnie and I fly down the stairs and I open the door only to pull it shut immediately. There is no possible way I was going out, Jack Frost is a bastard.

I notice a small crawl space underneath the stairwell. I tuck Minnie and myself into the cubby; it's surprisingly comfortable, and well hidden. No one casually passing down the stairs could see us. Minnie paces in a circle and settles beside me as I pull the blanket over both of us. As I lie there waiting for sleep to overtake me once again, I think about the dream I had only ten minutes ago. If there really had been a bronze-headed hero to save me that day, I wouldn't be in the situation that I am today. I should be getting my degree in Performing Arts this year; instead I'm lucky if I get a meal on a daily basis. There was no hero to save me that day, and there is no hero to save me now.

She isn't here. Why did I have such high hopes that she would be? She's told me to leave her alone, but I just can't. I can't ignore her, I can't stop thinking about her, I can't stop worrying about her.

When I entered my apartment I wanted so badly to see her curled up by my fireplace with Minnie tucked in next to her, but all I got was emptiness screaming back at me.

Had she found a warm place to stay? Had she taken my advice and gone to a homeless shelter? She said that she couldn't, why couldn't she?

Exhausted, I trod to my bedroom and remove my clothes; I grab a towel off of a hook on my wall and enter my bathroom. I turn on the water and wait for it to heat up. As steam fills the room an unfamiliar scent overwhelms me. I inhale deeply as the delectable aroma enters my lungs; I've never smelled anything as fine as this. It's a mixture of strawberry, and coconut with some kind of floral element to it. Maybe Alice sprayed some perfume whenever she was here, I would definitely have to ask her what it is.

I take a quick shower and at two forty-five in the morning, I fall into bed, unclothed and worn out.

_So I put my hands up_

_They're playing my song, _

_And the butterflies fly away _

_Noddin' my head like yeah, _

_Moving my hips like yeah, _

_And I got my hands up, _

_They're playin my song _

_I know I'm gonna be okay _

_Yeah, It's a party in the USA _

_Yeah, It's a party in the USA_

What the fuck is that God awful noise?I lift my head up off my pillow and try to find the source of the jarring cacophony. My eyes fall upon my phone just as it lights up and begins to ring again.

I reach for it on my bedside table and answer it, "What in the hell did you do to my phone, Alice?"

She laughs, "I just wanted to liven you up a bit. You don't like Miley's music?"

"That disharmonious garbage is not music, Al," I counter.

"Whatever, I'm calling to see if you wanted to meet up for a late lunch, I kind of need to talk to you about some things," she says with a serious tone.

"Sure, Al, what's up?"

"I'd rather talk in person," she says quietly. What could be wrong?

"So, when do you want to meet?"

"In about ten minutes, is that okay?"

"Wait, what time is it?" I say confused.

"It's almost three, Edward," Holy shit, I slept the whole day away.

"Shit, yeah, I'll meet you in ten, where at?"

"That deli across from your place is fine."

"Okay, see you there," I hang up and jump out of bed. I've never slept passed nine in my life. I throw on a pair of faded jeans and a pull-over sweatshirt; I grab my wallet and slip my boots on my feet as I leave the apartment.

Alice is waiting for me at a table when I walk into the deli, "Hey Al," I say as I pull out my chair and sit down.

"Hi, Edward," she flashes a small smile, "You want to order some food?"

"Hell yeah, I'm starving."

We get our food and make our way back to the table. I immediately tear into my turkey and cheese sandwich with tomato and lettuce, it's my favorite. I notice that Alice is only picking at her salad, "Al, speak. What's going on?" I prod.

She sets her fork down and folds her hands in her lap, "Okay, Edward," her gaze moves outside, "Ugh, that's disgusting," I look out the window to see what has Alice grossed out. I can't help but smile widely as I see Minnie lying belly-up in Rosalie's lap licking her face as Rosalie smiles and rubs her stomach. I realize that I've never seen Rosalie smile before. Her smile lights up her face and makes her look so young and beautiful. I have to admit to myself that she is quiet striking. Maybe it's the way the sun is hitting her today, her hair looks shinier, the dull brown replaced by a rich mahogany hue. Her complexion is pale, porcelain white, with no dirt to mar it.

I chuckle as Rosalie lifts her hand up and meets Minnie's paw with a high five. A man stops and drops some cash into her hat. She smiles even brighter and nods at the stranger, her lips moving to say "thank you."

"Edward," Alice says impatiently. I snap my head back in her direction, having almost forgotten that she was even here, "Have you heard anything I said?"

"Shit, sorry Al, what were you saying?"

"What has been up with you these past few days? You haven't been acting like yourself, you're distracted, showing up late to work, turning me down, sleeping all day, and your hair, I've never seen it so…just…fucked up," she says excitedly.

I look her in the eyes, taken aback by her sudden attack on me, "I've just got some things on my mind, Al," _actually someone._

"Well, what is it?" her eyes narrow, "What's got you so messed up that you turn me down after I practically throw myself at you?" Is she serious?

"You're mad at me because I wouldn't have sex with you? Al, come on."

"Stop fucking calling me Al, I'm not a man, and if you would have been listening to me instead of staring out the window like a numb-nuts, you would have heard me say that I love you, Edward!" I see tears form in her eyes and I feel like everything is moving in slow motion. Did she really just tell me that see loves me?

"Alice, you're not serious are you?" I ask like a dumbass.

"Of course I'm serious, Edward. Why would I joke about something like this? Damn it, I love you," she says _those _words again. I am stunned.

"Alice, I really don't know what to say."

"Say that you love me," her tone pleading.

"Al," she cringes, "Alice, I mean. You're a great friend, and if it weren't for you I don't know what I would have done in this city, but I don't think my feelings for you are quite on the same level as your feelings for me," God, this is difficult.

"So, all of those times you slept with me, they weren't because you actually had feelings for me?" tears fall down her cheek and her bottom lip trembles, _damn it, damn it, damn it._

"I thought we both understood that it was just casual, you agreed that we were keeping our options open," I try to explain.

"I don't want to be casual anymore, you're my only option, Edward," she says, her tone final.

A man stops in front of Minnie and me, dropping a ten dollar bill into my hat. I thank him and quickly remove the money to put it in my pocket to join the seventeen dollars I had left over from yesterday. Minnie gives me another high five. I swear she is part human. I rub her ears and plant a kiss on her head, she responds with a lick on my cheek.

"Are you hungry, Min?" she barks and wags her tail happily, "Alright, stay with the hat and I'll be right back, girl."

I jog across the street and enter the deli, "I'm sorry, Alice," I hear a familiar voice say. I turn to see Edward sitting at a table with the pixie from last night. She has tear stains on her cheeks, "I don't love you," he says and I could have sworn that my heart leaped out of my chest. He stands and throws his trash away, nearly knocking me over in the process, "I'm sorry, lady," he says as he puts his arms out to brace my fall. I correct myself without his help as he looks me, "Oh, shit, sorry Rosalie. I wasn't watching where I was going," his green eyes burn intensely into mine, and his mess of copper hair falls into his eyes.

"I was… you…" my heart beats out of control, making it hard for me to form a coherent sentence, "it's all cool," I finally manage to choke out. What the hell is wrong with me!

Edward smirks as me turns and leaves the deli. Able to breath again, I step up to the counter and order _two_ turkey and cheese sandwiches with tomato and lettuce.

My favorite.

**Hello, hello, hello! I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful one! I am so thankful that you all read my story and share what you think about it with me. Let me know what you think about this chapter by leaving a review, and if you would like to recommend it to your friends and fellow fan fiction lovers, that would be completely awesome. Thank you all so so much!**


	5. Chapter 5

_What has come over me  
What madness taken hold of my heart  
To run away, the only answer  
Pulling me away  
To fall upon the night  
The source of my recovery  
Sweet shadow taking hold of the light  
Another day has been devoured  
Calling me away, begging the question  
Why  
For saving me from all they've taken  
Letting my armor fall again  
Giving me the strength to face them  
Feeling it taking over now  
On a path to take it all away  
There can be no better way of knowing  
In a world beyond controlling  
Are you going to deny the savior  
In front of your eyes  
Stare into the night  
Power beyond containing  
Are you going to remain a slave for  
The rest of your life  
Give into the night_

_The Night- _Disturbed

I am dreading work this morning. I haven't heard anything from Alice all weekend; I didn't leave her on the best terms.

Truthfully, she scared me a bit.

She seemed a tad… would you call it deranged? She wouldn't take no as an answer.

I had never given any thought to the fact that Alice could be looking for anything more than just friendship. Sure, we flirted and we slept together (which I am now looking back on with some regret) but I never expected her to want to take us to another level.

I'm tightening my tie as I look over myself in the bathroom mirror. My eyes look heavy and tired, despite the fact that I've slept more this weekend than I usually do. My hair is standing in every direction. I take out my hair gel and comb, setting them on the vanity counter.

I look at my hair once more, "Fuck it," I say as I turn and leave, my hair staying in its natural disarray.

I haven't seen Rosalie since Saturday at the deli when I nearly knocked her to the floor. I was in such a hurry to get out of there and away from Alice that I didn't even see her standing there. For once she didn't scowl at me, she looked flustered and breathless, it was cute.

As I walk to work this morning, I unabashedly check to see if she is in her spot. My smile falls when I see that it is barren. There are so many questions that I want to ask her, questions I couldn't ask Saturday because of Alice.

Where had she been staying at the past few nights? Where the hell is she now?

I enter my office to find Alice sitting at my desk. Ugh.

"Hello, Alice," I greet politely.

"Hey, Edward," she says happily, "How was your weekend?"

"It was okay," I say apprehensively.

"That's so good to hear. So, what're you doing tonight?" I am thrown off by her cheerfulness.

"Nothing much that I know of, what's going on?"

"Oh, nothing," she smiles devilishly, "Just seeing what's going on with you in your world," she stands and pushes my chair back, revealing a way-too-short-and-way-too-tight-for-work red dress.

She steps in front of me, "I love your hair like this," she says as she runs her fingers through it before I can duck out of her reach, "I'll talk to you later, Edward," She saunters out of my office.

What just happened?

We've made it through the weekend undetected in our new place. Minnie and I now have a little game we play, if we hear that anyone is coming, we freeze and see you can stay still the longest. Minnie always wins.

I peak my head out into the alley to check the weather. It's chilly, but the sun is shining brightly, a nice day.

Minnie and I are going on an adventure to find Central Park today. We've been in New York for almost six months and have never been, plus Minnie would love the chance to run around and stretch her legs.

I tuck my hair under my hat and tie my shoes. I tear off a lengthwise strip of the blanket and fashion Minnie a leash to tie onto her collar.

"Emmett, I've got a problem," I say as we eat Chinese food in my office.

"What's up, dude?" he says as he twirls Chow Mein around his fork.

"Alice," I sigh, he cocks his eyebrow at me and shoves his mouth full of food, "Saturday, she told me she loved me," he chokes.

"Holy hell," he coughs, "I didn't know you too were officially together."

"We're not, I've always told her that I wasn't looking for anything serious, apparently she didn't understand that."

"So, how did all of this happen?" he asks.

I regale with what happened Friday night after the club and Saturday afternoon. After I finish with that tale, I tell him what she said this morning.

Emmett stares at me with his fork hanging out of his mouth, "So, what do you think?"

"I think she's a wacko," he says plainly.

"Thanks, that helps a lot;" I say sarcastically, "I don't get it. She was so cool when I moved here. She agreed that we should keep things open. Now, she's saying that we belong together and that I have to love her in return. I don't know what to do."

"Well, you said today that she acted like nothing had happened, maybe she understands now," Emmett tries to reason.

"I don't know man, she's got a psychotic twinkle in her eye," I retort.

He laughs, "Psychotic twinkle?"

"Yeah, you know like I'm normal on the surface, but I'm going to sneak into your room at night and watch you sleep, then collect your hair and toenail clippings for my shrine to you at home. Psychotic twinkle."

We both laugh, "I'd watch my back if I were you, and sleep with one eye open," Emmett jokes.

"Gripping my pillow tight?" I quote Metallica.

"Yeah, or you I'll be off to Never, Never land with Alice."

I shudder

"So how did your Friday night go?" I ask Emmett as we finish our lunch.

"Pretty fucking well, dude," he chuckles, "This girl is just awesome," he smiles.

"She looked pretty hot, congratulations," I smile.

"Yeah, she's only been here for about two months. Her fiancé died, so she moved here for a fresh start."

"Wow, that's pretty heavy stuff, Em," I've never seen him go for a girl with baggage.

"Yeah, but something about her just seems worth it," he looks sincere, "She's still hurting, she needs someone to be there for her."

"Good luck with that, Em, I'm happy for you," I really am.

Finding Central Park proved to a more difficult task than I thought it would be. I had gotten us turned around about five times, but now we've finally made it.

I find us a place in the sun and lay down in the grass, looking up at the clear azul sky and beaming sun. Minnie follows my example and lies down with her belly up and paws hanging in the air.

"This is nice, isn't it Min?" I close my eyes and let the sun's warmth permeate my clothing.

A cool breeze blows by; I inhale deeply, filling myself with the scent of wind and nature. Minnie swats playfully at a small insect buzzing around her head.

It's moments like these that make me want to forget everything. Forget the reason I'm here, forget the life that I could have had; forget the people that I left behind. Forget, how easy it is to say the word, how hard it is to fulfill its meaning. Just to be peaceful and happy would be a blessing, an answer to a prayer prayed many times.

Minnie is restless, rolling over and digging in the grass, licking me face and pawing at my arm, "Do you want to play, Minnie?" I say as I stand. She barks enthusiastically.

We enjoy the afternoon playing fetch and racing between trees, it feels so good to run. Feeling my muscles contract and relax, straining against the exertion I am putting them through. I love it.

We head back to the apartment complex when the sun begins to set. The cool breeze we had earlier is now stagnant, covering the city with a chill.

I stop at a pizzeria and grab two slices of pizza and a bottle of water for mine and Minnie's dinner. She jumps on me as soon as I walk out, wanting her slice, "No, girl, we're waiting until we get back," I explain to her.

"Rosalie."

` "Rosalie!"

"Hey! Rosalie!"

I feel someone tap me on the back and I instantly freeze, Minnie growls and puts herself between me and the stranger.

"Rosalie, I've been calling your name," it's Edward. I let go of the breath I had been holding.

"Oh, sorry, I, uh, didn't hear you," I mumble, almost having forgotten that's the name he knows me by. He's wearing his suit, but, what is this? His hair is messed up! Again!

He's talking about something but all I notice is that he is now walking very close to me. I tense and my breathing becomes shallow, he notices this.

"Are you okay?" he places a gentle hand on my shoulder, panic mode sets in.

"Please, don't touch me," I say strongly, he immediately backs off.

"I'm sorry, you looked like you were about to hyperventilate."

"Oh," I don't know what to say. We continue our walk home and he gives me some more space. Minnie trots beside me, keeping an eye Edward.

We're almost to the apartment when Edward breaks our silence, "May I ask where you have been staying these pass few nights?" he pauses and looks me dead in the eyes, "I know you don't want me checking up on you or really even caring about you at all, but I just want to know that you're safe at night. If you will answer me, I'll leave you alone like you asked," Did I really want him to leave me alone? Ever since I saw him with that Alice girl, I've been feeling… well, feelings for him. Whether they are based in jealousy or true emotion, I'm not sure, and maybe that's the part that's scaring me the most. It's obvious that Edward has been thinking about me at the least, any other feelings that he holds, I am unsure.

"Edward," I start, "I can't really tell you exactly where I am staying at, but just know that I am safe, or I have been safe so far."

"That does make me feel better, Rosalie. Thank you for answering," We're at the entrance of the complex, "Well, you should be getting on to wherever it is you're staying. We're in for another cool night,"

"Cool?" I laugh, "It's fucking arctic! I've been expecting polar bears to start roaming through the city!"

Edward laughs softly, "You must not be from around here."

I don't want to think about where I am from, _shit,_ "No, I'm not," I say curtly, "Well, see you around, Edward."

He looks a little dumbstruck, but turns and enters the building. I wait until I can see him no more and dash around to the back, wanting to get out of the cold as quickly as I can.

Minnie and I tuck into our nook and I lay out our pizza, which is now, unfortunately, cold. It doesn't seem to bother Minnie; she's devoured her entire piece before I manage to get two bites down.

She pulls the blanket out with her teeth and covers herself with it, lying down to sleep. I finish my slice and follow suit.

I haven't seen her in three weeks. _Three weeks._ Do you know how many things could have happened to her in three weeks? Does she know how badly she is stressing me out? Of course she doesn't, _she does care about you, Edward!_ I scream at myself. I am worrying myself over a woman that wouldn't care if I went missing for three weeks without so much as a whisper. I shove my hands roughly through my hair for the four hundred and forty-ninth time today. This is just so fucked up.

I've been trying to go about my normal routine, attempting to not think about her, but only failing fucking miserably. I decide to drive into work today; doing so is the only way to stop me from standing in her spot, hoping that she will materialize in front of me. I sound like a freaking woman.

And then there's Alice, always there, always waiting on me. Recently, she's been greeting me at my office and sharing some complete useless fact with me.

Today is no different, "Good morning, Edward!" she's perky, ugh; "Did you know that some penguins mate for life, like, they only have one mate they're entire life."

"Yes, Alice, I know what mate for life means, thank you."

"Yeah, they just have that special penguin that they fall in love with and make babies; wouldn't you want that, Edward?"

"To fall in love with a penguin? I'm not to sure how that'd work out, Alice," I say sarcastically.

"No, silly, to find that special person to make babies with. You wouldn't want to be a lonely penguin, would you? And do you know how they often pick their mate?"

"Sure don't," she steps closer to me. I'm so tired of her antics.

"They're often right under their noses. Isn't that so strange, Edward, how the person that you are meant to mate for life with could be right under your nose?"

"Alice, I need to get to work," I step around her and sit down at my desk.

"Okay, Eddie, just think about it," she leaves. Sweet Jesus Christ, she is driving me insane. I want to know what happened to the cool, laid back woman that I first met when I moved here, and I want to punch whatever psycho stole her and replaced her with the Alice that was just in my office.

I focus on my work to get my mind off of Alice and Rosalie. Organizing data, crunching numbers and figuring budgets relaxes me, and keeps me busy. I don't even realize that four hours have gone by until Emmett is knocking on my door for lunch.

He has pizza in his office; I load my plate down with three slices and sit down across from him at his desk.

"So, I'm not going to be able to make it again this Friday night," Emmett starts. We had taken a hiatus from our intoxication times for the pass three Friday's. Emmett had been wrapped up with the new girl he was seeing and I didn't want to be alone with Alice for any length of time.

"Oh, okay," I respond.

"Sorry, man. Why don't you and Alice just go together?"

I look at him incredulously, "Hell no, man. I'd rather sit at home alone than go out with just her."

"You sound like a fourteen year old boy," Emmett jokes.

"No, you haven't heard her little facts that she presents me with every fucking morning."

"Seriously?" he smirks.

"Yes, I couldn't make this shit up. This morning she told me that we should be little penguins and make babies, or some shit like that," Repeating it sounds even more psychotic. Emmett only laughs loudly.

There's a light knock on the door, "Come in," Emmett's voice booms.

"Hey, you guys!" speak of the devil, "What do you have for lunch?"

Alice invites herself in and pulls a chair ridiculously close to mine, "Oh, pizza my favorite!" she grabs a slice from the box. Holding it up to her mouth, she licks the slice from the tip of it to the crust, never straying her eyes from mine. My face wrinkles in disgust, Emmett's jaw falls open, "I just fucking love pizza."

She takes her slice with her and walks out of Emmett's office, "See what I'm talking about?" I whisper.

"I definitely see that psychotic twinkle you were talking about," he adds.

"She's starting to lose the twinkle and just become full-blown psychotic."

He chuckles, "So, you ready for that storm tonight?" There was a nasty storm moving over the city tonight, meteorologists are predicting two feet of snow.

"Yeah, I'm just staying in with the fireplace on."

"It's going to suck for anyone that has to work out in it."

When he says this all I can think about is Rosalie, where will she be tonight? Does she know how to brave a snow storm? I highly doubt that, she's not from around here.

"Yeah, I've got to get back to work," I leave his office and return to mine quickly. I look up the number to every homeless shelter in the city. Half of them won't even tell me whether or not anyone's checked in by that name and the others say that no one by her name or description has came through their door.

After my last failed attempt to locate her, I slam the phone down on the receiver, exasperated.

People have been talking about a storm coming through the city tonight as they pass by me.

"Two feet of snow, temperature is going to be in the teens," one man says.

Temperature in the teens! That's fucking ridiculous! I am so happy that I have our little nook for us to stay in. We've been staying in there more and more as the temperature continues to drop. It's almost too cold to go out during the day.

I haven't seen Edward since the night that he asked me if I had a place to stay, and I have to admit that I do kind of, sort of, maybe miss him. I'm trying to sort things out about him, the absence of seeing him hasn't made me think about him any less, so I'm beginning to rule out the jealousy issue, and I distinctly heard him tell Alice that he didn't love her. What can I do if I actually have real feelings for him? Someone like him would never go for someone like me, despite what he has said to me or truly feels. If he ever learns who I really am, and what I've done, he would be stupid to be with me. Shit.

I grab Minnie and I dinner and retreat to our little sanctuary.

I can hear the wind blowing outside, howling gales that keep Minnie at attention; she's never been a fan of storms. I can hear tiny pings of what must be hail hitting the alley outside. Minnie and I tuck ourselves in under the blanket and settle in for the night.

I've only been asleep for about ten minutes when I am startle wake by the sound of the door opening and slamming shut, bringing in a paralyzing frost.

"Damn it to hell! Where the fuck is she?" Edward's unmistakable voice pierces the silence in the stairwell along with the sound of his pacing back and forth, "Does she even know that she's driving me crazy! No, she doesn't because she is gone! Fuck!" I can hear him shivering.

Minnie gets defensive at his yelling and growls menacingly. Edward stills, "Minnie?" he whispers.

I freeze as I hear his footfalls move closer to our nook. He peers under the stairs, "Rosalie? Is that you?"

"Why were you out in that storm?" he's dripping wet and nearly convulsing.

"I, I was looking for y-you," he stutters.

"You can't be serious, Edward, Why would you do that?"

"I didn't know if you knew about the storm and I didn't think that you would be able to stick it out. I haven't seen you in three weeks, Rose," his tone is so caring, it shocks me, "I was worried," he smiles slightly.

"Um, thanks, Edward. You're going to shiver to death if you don't get out of those clothes," his lips were turning blue.

"No I won't, I'm fine," typical guy answer, "So, you've been staying here the whole time?" I nod my head shyly, "Why didn't you just tell me?" I really don't have an answer for this, why didn't I tell him?

"Did you think I would bother you or something? Rose, I told you that I wouldn't. Please, I'm not some creepy stalker guy, when a woman says no, I listen, I promise."

"No, it's not that. Edward, you really need to change your clothes. I'm staying here, I'm okay," I explain.

"Fine, can I talk to you later though or do you still want me to leave you alone? I'll do either one," Why did he care so much? This question is continues to plague me. What was it about me that made him keep coming back? I'm just a bum, and a criminal.

"We'll talk later," I decide.

"Good night, Rosalie," he smiles and hastily makes his way up the stairs.

The sound of Minnie chomping on something wakes me up; I open my eyes to see her sitting obediently in front of Edward as he tears off small of some kind of meat and feeds it to her. It's strange to see her act this way to anyone else but me.

"Good morning," he's sitting cross-legged about five feet from me. He's wearing some flannel pajama pants and moccasin slippers with a white wife beater and red robe. His eyes are still tired, but his voice is cheerful, "I hope you don't mind me giving her some breakfast, I brought you some, too," he hands me a plate that has sausage and eggs on it.

I am practically drooling at the site of it, "Holy shit, this is amazing," I mumble through a mouth of food. I haven't tasted anything this good in so long.

He smirks, "I'm glad you like it. Minnie seems to be enjoying it as well. I wasn't really sure what you liked, so I-"

I cut him off, "Dude, I am so not picky, I'll eat just about anything," I say as I scrape the plate clean and lick my fork, "Same goes for Minnie," he takes the plate from me, "Thank you, by the way, this was really nice of you."

"No problem."

"Are you playing hooky today?" I ask.

"What?" he looks confused.

"Hooky, you know skipping work?" I explain.

"Oh," he laughs, "No, the meteorologists were totally wrong about the snowfall last night instead of two feet, about five fell down. Work's cancelled today."

"Nice," I giggle, "So, what so you have going on today?"

"I don't plan on much, definitely not getting out of my pajamas," he chuckles, "I just plan on relaxing. I've got to work up a menu for this Thursday."

"What's this Thursday?"

"It's Thanksgiving, Rosalie."

"Wow, it's already that time of the year?" I say solemnly. How was I going to get through the holidays?

"Yeah, I'm having dinner at my apartment this year. My friend Emmett is bringing his new girl and my frien-well, Alice," he cringes at her name, I smile, "is supposed to be coming along with my sister, brother, mom, and dad."

"Sounds like you'll have a full house."

"Yeah, it's going to be tons of fun," he says bitingly. What I would give to have my family all together for a holiday meal. Edward notices my sad smile, "Hey, you know if you want to, and only if you want to, you can come eat dinner with us. If you didn't have any plans."

I look at him incredulously. Me? Have plans? "I'll think about it, thanks for the offer, Edward," I say sincerely.

Today is Thanksgiving. Woo hoo. I've been cooking since about seven-thirty, it is now one o'clock, my mom and dad came over around eleven to help finish things up and now we are all ready to eat. Emmett is running a bit late, but told us to start with out him, apparently his girl, kind of lost it this morning when she realized that she wouldn't be having anymore holiday's with her fiancé. I was pretty nervous about meeting her; I wouldn't know what to do if she freaked out here.

My dad carves the turkey at the head of the table and we begin to pass platters of food around the table. Everyone's plate is full when I hear Emmett knock twice and enter my apartment. Behind him is a striking blonde woman. She's very beautiful, curvy in all the right places wearing clothes that enhance her figure but don't overtly flaunt it. Her eyes are blue as the sky, but red and puffy from crying. I feel sad for her; I can't imagine what she's been through.

"Edward," Emmett greets, "This is my girl."

She extends her hand daintily toward me, I grasp it lightly, "Edward Cullen," I introduce myself.

She smiles, "Rosalie Hale."

"You can do this, it's just one meal. If you don't want to stay you don't have to," I've been repeating this to myself for the past hour. I'm trying to gather enough courage to walk to Edward's apartment.

I used five of my dollars o buy a bag of yeast rolls to take with me; I couldn't show up empty handed. I fixed my hair into a side braid and tried to wipe as much dirt from my clothes as I could.

With my bag, of rolls gripped tightly in my hand and ascend the stairwell.

"Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out," Why am I so completely nervous? My heart is pounding widely as I reach the third floor. His apartment door is open; I'm three steps away from entering when I hear a voice that I never thought I would hear again.

"Rosalie Hale," she says.

I run.

**Howdy there! Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think, reviews are better than psychotic twinkles!**


	6. Chapter 6

_Change again, cannot be considered  
I rage again, dispelling my anger  
Where do I begin?  
The choices are endless  
My art, my redemption, my only salvation  
I carry the gift that I have been blessed with  
My soul is adrift in oceans of madness  
Repairing the rift that you have created  
I am not alone, brothers, give me your arms now  
The thing I treasure most in life cannot be taken away  
There will never be a reason why I will surrender to your advice  
To change myself, I'd rather die  
Though they will not understand  
I won't make the greatest sacrifice  
You can't predict where the outcome lies  
You'll never take me alive_

_I'm Alive- _Disturbed

My breath catches in my throat.

"It's really nice to meet you, Rosalie," I say as politely as I can, "Will you all excuse me for a moment?"

I don't wait for an answer. I sprint down the corridor and take the steps down two at a time.

Rosalieis opening the alleyway door when I reach her.

"Stop!" she shuts the door and turns to me, she looks terrified. Whatever friendship I had established with Minnie is gone; she's standing between Rosalie and me, teeth bared with feral snarls ripping from her throat.

"Can you explain to me why there is a woman in my apartment with your name?" I ask calmly, keeping a constant eye on Minnie.

Rosalie sinks to the floor and puts her head in her hands. I try to move closer to her but Minnie won't allow it.

"Rosalie, you can talk to me," I whisper.

"No, I can't," her voice is trembling.

"Rosalie, ple-"

"That's not my name," I barely hear her say. Finally, we're getting some where. She calls Minnie to her side and I sit in front of her.

"Okay, can you tell me what it is?"

She's quiet, looking contemplative. What have I gotten myself into? I really don't know anything about this woman, she could be a psycho, escaped convict, serial killer for all I know, and I've invited her into my apartment, unthinkingly.

"My name is Isabella Swan," she says shamefully.

Isabella Swan, that has to be one of the most beautiful names I've ever heard. I'm praying that its not one of the most beautiful psycho, escaped convict, serial killer names that I've ever heard.

"Isabella, so that's really your name?" I want to be absolutely sure.

She sticks her hand into her shirt and pulls out a battered, rectangular piece of plastic. She hands it to me, it's her license. The picture on it is a far cry from the woman sitting across from me. The Isabella in the picture is smiling, her skin is glowing, her hair is shiny; she looks happy. The Isabella I see now is broken, scared, and dirty.

"You're from Arizona?" she nods. No wonder she doesn't like the cold. I scan over the card, date of birth September 13, 1988, "You're only twenty-two?"

"It's hard to believe, isn't it?" she says callously. I return the license to her.

"What happened to you?"

"It's more like what did _I _do," she retorts.

"Eddie?" Shit, Alice, "Eddie Poo, where are you?" she calls in a singsong voice.

Isabella looks at me with panic and fear masking her face, "Please, don't tell her I'm here, don't even mention my name," she runs back into her hidden nook with Minnie. I can hear Alice getting closer.

"Will you talk to me later?" I ask in a whisper.

"Maybe, just go away," she snaps.

Thinking quickly, I grab my phone out of my pocket and hold it up to my ear, "Okay, that sounds great. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. Bye," I return my phone to pocket just as Alice reaches me.

"Hey Eddie, who are you talking to?"

"One of my friends," I say.

"I heard a woman's voice," she places her hands on her hips.

"That's because I was talking to a woman, I had her on speaker," Why am I explaining myself to Alice?

"Why do you have a woman friend that I don't know about?" she hisses and narrows her eyes.

"Really, Alice? I have _tons_ of woman friends that you don't know about," she gasps, "Alice; I don't answer to you, okay? I don't owe you anything. I do _not_ want to be with you, and I am absolutely positive that I do not love you, when are you going to realize that? I don't even like you anymore, Alice, you're insane!"

Tears fall down her cheeks, "H-How can you say that, Eddie? Why are you being so mean to me?"

Jesus H. Christ.

"Cut the bullshit, Alice," I ascend the stairs feeling lighter.

"You'll regret this, Edward Cullen," she's following me, "I could've been the best thing to ever happen in your life," she spits.

"If you would be the best thing to happen in my life, then I would have had a pretty shitty life," I spit right back at her.

I enter my apartment and begin eating. Alice storms in and grabs her things, "Alice, what's wrong, sweetie?" my mother asks.

"Your son is an asshole!" she shouts. I nudge my brother, Garrett, "Are you going to let her talk about you like that?" he laughs.

"No, you," Alice points at me, "Edward Cullen, are an asshole," she opens the door.

"Well, I'd rather be an asshole than a psychotic bitch!" I call to her as she slams the door. Emmett high fives me across the table. Rosalie looks as if she is trying to hold back laughter; I want to ask her about Isabella so badly.

"Edward, what was all of that about?" my father asks.

"She's insane," I answer and continue eating my awesome Thanksgiving dinner that I made.

"What am I going to do, Minnie?"

I still can't believe that Rosalie is here. What would make her come all the way to New York? Where is Royce? Just thinking about him makes me shudder.

And then there's Edward, so calm, so… understanding? Would he still be that way when I tell him my story? Can I even tell him my story? I should have left when I had the chance.

I can't let Rose know I'm here, I don't want to even imagine what she would do if she saw me. I'm praying that Edward will keep his mouth shut. What if he doesn't? Why don't I just leave now? What is keeping me here? _The man in apartment 718. _Ugh.

Minnie and I are munching on rolls when I hear someone coming down the stairs. We stop moving immediately.

The person slowly moves closer to our nook and my breathing becomes shallow.

"I brought some food!" Edward pops in.

"Shit," I grab chest as my breathing returns normal, "you scared us."

Minnie stands eagerly in front of Edward staring at the three plates of food in his hands.

"She's my best friend again," Edward laughs. He sets down a plate full of turkey for Minnie, who instantly attacks her meal.

"This one is for you," he says as he hands the plate and utensils to me, "Happy Thanksgiving, Isabella," he says sweetly.

"Thank you, Edward," I am so thankful for him, even if I won't have him for much longer.

The food on my plate looks too good to be real. There is turkey (all white meat) and stuffing with light brown gravy over it, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn and a biscuit, I must have died and gone to heaven.

I try to be as ladylike as I can, cutting my turkey into small pieces and chewing with my mouth closed. I wipe my mouth on my sleeve and I see Edward cringe slightly, "Hang on, I brought a napkin and a drink," He returns with a napkin, a large thermos, and cup and a bowl. He pours some water in the cup for me and some in the bowl for Minnie, who laps at it graciously. He really thought of everything.

I finish my meal and use the napkin to clean my face, "That was just fucking amazing," I compliment.

He laughs, "Well, thank you, it took me nearly all morning to make."

"You cooked this?"

"Yes, I did," he says proudly.

"Damn," I am astonished.

"I brought you a surprise," he smiles and picks up the third plate covered in foil.

Edward pulls off the foil, "This is my mother's Oreo ice cream pie."

"Give me that," I snatch the plate from his hands, he chuckles.

I swipe some of the whipped cream off of the top with my finger. I close my eyes as I let the whipped cream melt in my mouth. Its sweetness makes my taste buds dance and crave more.

When I open my eyes, I see Edward staring at me, his bottom lip pulled between his teeth, "You okay, there?" I wave my hand in front of his eyes.

"What? Oh, I'm fine. Sorry, just thinking," he looks embarrassed.

I eat my pie quickly, not wanting it to melt, but I savor each bite, this is the greatest thing I have ever tasted.

"Would you be completely disgusted if I licked the plate?" I jokingly ask.

"Be my guest, I know how good that stuff is," he answers.

I don't actually lick the plate, but I do run my finger over it and pick up any crumbs left behind.

I set the plate down and pat my stomach, this is the first time I've actually felt full in six months.

"That was great, Edward, really. Thank you so much," I say meaning every word.

"You're welcome, Isabella Swan," I smile slightly at him, "Would you be up to answering some of my questions now?" I knew this was coming.

"If you'll answer one of mine first," I bargain.

"Sure, shoot," he agrees.

"What changed?" I say weakly, "When I first got here, you barely looked at me. You would steal little glances when you thought I wasn't looking, but I was, I always was. You would look at me as if I were a pest, someone who didn't deserve to be alive," he looks away, frowning, "It's okay, Edward, I've gotten that look before more times than I can count, but the thing is you've stopped looking at me like that. I want to know why," I state.

He looks lost in thought. After a minute of silence, he runs his hands through his hair and looks at me, "Do you remember that day, almost a month ago, when I had that coffee and acted like a complete douche bag to you?"

My mood sours at the memory, I nod, "Well, that was the first day that I thought you had caught me staring at you," he continues, "it was the first time I looked into your eyes. God, that sounds so fucking corny, but it's true. I realized that you were a person too, a living, breathing human, you know?" he says animatedly, his hands running over his face and through his hair once again, "I don't know if you know this, but your eyes are very expressive. I could tell that you were hurt, and that you have feelings too. That's what changed, Isabella. I've stopped being an assuming asshole, or at least I would like to think that I have," he finishes with a sigh.

"Does that answer your question?" I nod; I am surprised by his answer, but find myself smiling at his last remark.

"I think you have," I smirk at him.

"I have what?"

"Stopped being an assuming asshole," I counter.

"Thank you," he smiles, "That means so much," he says half-heartedly. Minnie rolls over on her back, inviting us to rub her belly. Edward tentatively reaches out a hand a pets Minnie softly, a smile spreads across his face as she allows him, for the first time, to touch her.

"See, she's very sweet," I lean my face toward hers and kiss her nose, "She's just very protective."

"That's a good thing," he says. Minnie sits up and licks Edward's face before he can turn away. His face is priceless; you would think that she has battery acid for saliva. I laugh loudly as he grabs the sleeve of his shirt and repeatedly wipes his cheek.

"It's not going to kill you," I say blatantly. Minnie lies at my side, she gazes up at me with a smug look in her eyes.

"Sorry," he says. He has rubbed his cheek beet-red. He gains his composure from his little-girl freak out, and clears his throat, "So, would you mind if I ask you some questions? It's completely your decision."

Can I do this? Can I open up to this man I really don't even know, share with him the story that no one else knows? What is it about him that gives me a sense of ease, can I trust him? He is of the male population, and if I've learned anything its not to readily trust anyone of the male population. I toss a coin in my head. Heads, I'll talk to him; Tails, I leave now, and never look back.

Heads; stupid, mental coin.

"Go ahead," I close my eyes and lean against the wall.

"Will you be completely honest with me?" I agree, "Good, then I will be honest with you. I'll also give you one pass, if I ask a question you can't or don't want to answer, you can pass," I agree once more, "Okay," he exhales.

"Does anyone know that you are staying here?"

"Here, as in the city or here, as in under these stairs?" she asks.

"Both?" I shrug.

"Well, Uncle Vernon, you're the only one that knows I'm under these stairs, but Aunt Petunia came pretty close to finding out about me this afternoon," she smiles. It takes me a few seconds to catch her Harry Potter reference, "And, no one knows that I am staying here, in this city, other than you," she nods toward me.

No one knows where she is? Does that mean that she has a family? Wouldn't they be looking for her? These are questions I should be asking her, not myself. _Focus._

"What was your life like in Arizona?" I ask, trying to keep my tone light.

"Warm," she sighs. She's fidgeting with the corner of my blanket, "Happy, I really had nothing to complain about, even though I did. I see that now, the stupid bullshit that I thought was such a big deal, it's nothing. Nothing compared to the actual problems I have now." A small smile is forming in the corner of her mouth.

"Where you going to college or anything?" her smile evaporates.

"Yeah, I was," her eyes are downcast; "I think that's what I miss the most."

"Your major?" I prod.

"Um, Performing Arts, mainly singing and acting," this surprises me, "Well, I'm a better singer than an actress, but I needed something to minor in, and I can't dance to save my life, so acting it was."

"I'd love to hear you sing sometime," a soft blush blooms across her face. Her nose wrinkles and she shakes her head, "What?" I ask playfully, "Stage fright?"

"Kind of," she twists a finger through a strand of hair that hangs over her shoulder, "You see, singing in front of hundreds of people, I'm fine; ask me to sing to a group of twenty or less, I freeze. I'll forget the words, forget everything that I'm supposed to be doing, it's a pain in the ass."

"I get where you're coming from, but I am the opposite of you. I use to play guitar in a band."

"Really?" her eyes light up.

I laugh, "Yeah, really, I was the lead guitarist for The Painted Skull. We never got any huge gigs or anything like that. We'd play at small bars around our hometown, never more than twenty-five to thirty people, and we were fine with that. We got an offer to play at a festival a couple cities away from us. It wasn't a huge place or anything like that, but more people showed up than we had ever expected, about two hundred. In the middle of our first song, I snapped two guitar strings and continuously dropped my pick; I was so nervous. The lead singer, distracted by what was going on with me, choked up on the lyrics and knocked over a microphone stand, hitting some girl in the head pretty hard, thus ending the career of The Painted Skull."

She's laughing, actually laughing. _One point for Edward._

**Hello! Sorry this chapter is kind of late… and short. I don't really have an excuse other than laziness, and Christmas shopping (It's kicking my butt). Also, this is a short chapter because I want to save the heavy stuff for the next one (which will be thoroughly angsty). As always, thank you so freaking much for reading my story and taking the time to review, favorite and alert. If you like this story, recommend it to your friends, fanfic lovers, neighbors, random strangers, anybody! Let me know what you're thinking, reviews are better than Oreo ice cream pie!**


	7. Chapter 7

_Another dream that will never come true  
Just to compliment your sorrow  
Another life that I've taken from you  
A gift to add on to your pain and suffering  
_

_Another truth you can never believe  
Has crippled you completely  
All the cries you're beginning to hear  
Trapped in your mind, and the sound is deafening  
Let me enlighten you  
This is the way I pray  
_

_Living just isn't hard enough  
Burn me alive, inside  
Living my life's not hard enough  
Take everything away  
Prayer-_ Disturbed

IPOV

"Did Rosalie say anything at dinner?" I ask. Our conversation had stifled, I don't believe Edward knew how to ask the questions he wanted answered.

"No, she was very quiet and reserved. She kept her conversation to Emmett, but did thank me for the meal before they left. She seems very polite," I couldn't believe what I was hearing. That is not the Rosalie that I know, well knew. What's changed? The Rosalie I knew was loud, always spoke her mind and was borderline obnoxious.

"How do you know her?" Edward asks. Big question. Here we go, here is the part where he runs away, I tell myself. There is no way that he will want anything to do with me after he hears this.

"She was my best friend," I state. A flash of shock crosses Edward's face, but he composes himself quickly, "I've known her since I was thirteen. Do you know why she's here? You say that she only spoke to your friend Emmett, why is that?"

"They're dating," Dating? How can she be dating anyone, what about Royce? "He told me that she's here for a fresh start, her fiancé died."

My stomach drops, Royce is dead? Did I? "How did he die?" I ask with a wavering voice.

"Emmett never said. Isabella, what's wrong?" Tears sting my eyes, I bury my head in my hands and Minnie sits up next to me and nuzzles her head against mine.

"I-I never meant- I just don't see how-" I try to explain through my sobs. This never should have happened.

"Isabella-" Edward starts. I hear the door open and place my finger over my lips to signal him to be quiet. I wipe away the tears that have accumulated on my cheeks as I listen to the person move up the stairwell.

Edward purses his lips, "Would you feel comfortable if we went to my apartment? This isn't exactly a great place for having this kind of conversation."

"Is there anyone in there?"

"Everyone has left; it'd be you, Minnie and I. Are you okay with that?"

"Sure," I agree. What do I have to lose anymore? Edward hasn't proven himself to be untrustworthy; he's surprisingly brought a sense of comfort to me that I can't explain. He's the only person that's made an effort to help me.

Once we are inside his apartment I set my things down on the kitchen table while Edward takes a seat on his couch. Minnie curls up on the stone in front of the fireplace.

"Aren't you going to sit?" he asks and pats the couch. I haven't moved from my place next to the table. I tentatively look at the beige couch and down at my clothes that are no where near clean enough to touch the upholstery

"I, um, don't want to mess up your couch," I admit, embarrassed.

Edward stands, "Would you like to wash your clothes?" he offers, "I can lend you something of mine to wear while they are washing."

Clean clothes? That would be a luxury for me, "I don't know," I say unsure. I don't want to be a burden to him, he's already done too much for me, "You've already gone out of your way for me so many times," I begin to argue.

"It's no problem at all," he cuts me off and disappears into his bedroom.

I hear drawers slide open as I wait nervously in the kitchen. Edward returns with clothes in his hand.

"Here," he says as he hands the garments, "I'll let you change in my bathroom," he leads he down across the apartment and I follow as if I have no idea where the bathroom is. I change quickly, removing my dirty clothes and replacing them with Edward-scented, black sweatpants and shirt. The front of the shirt is emblazoned with blue and gold letters that read _Forks High School Football, _followed on the back with _Cullen_ printed across the shoulders.

I smile at myself in the mirror, enjoying the look of Edward's baggy high school sweatshirt on me. I wrap my bra and underwear up in my shirt and jeans and place my license and small amount of cash in the pocket of the sweat pants.

When I enter the kitchen I find Edward on the couch with Minnie next to him on the floor. Her head is resting on his knees as Edward rubs her ears.

"She loves that," I say as I join him on the couch. Minnie's eyes are closed and her tail wags slowly.

Edward smiles, "I'm just glad she's letting me get close to her and not trying to bite my face off anymore," he says as he looks me in the eyes, his statement carrying an underlying meaning.

"I'll slip that in the washer for you."

EPOV

I am letting the water fill up in my washer as I measure out the correct amount of soap and dump it in the water. I unroll Isabella's clothes and drop them in. As they fall into the water, I notice something red…and lacy. I lean my head in for a closer inspection to find that it is, indeed, Isabella's bra and underwear. I look over to where she is sitting. Her eyes are focused on the floor and her fingers toy with the hem of my sweatshirt. _She has nothing on under there,_ under my clothes, my high school football sweats that hang loosely on her, but still look so right as if she were meant to wear them. _Snap out of it,_ I chastise myself, _you don't even know her._

I make my way back to the couch, "Thank you for doing this for me," Isabella says.

"It's no problem," I nod. I run my fingers through my hair, "So, you say that Rosalie was your best friend."

She sighs softly, "Yes, we met in middle school and were inseparable until our junior year in college."

"What happened?" I ask. She finally looks up from the floor and into my eyes.

"Royce," she states flatly, "Rose and I met him in September 2009 at a club near the campus, he was the bartender. He had everything a woman could want. He was tall, dark hair, dark eyes, tan skin and a killer body," she smiles sadly, apparently lost in thought, "He could talk anyone into doing what he wanted, he was smooth like that. He knew exactly what buttons to push to get women to fall for him," she pauses, "I fell the hardest."

This surprises me, "I wanted Royce like nothing I had ever wanted before. He wanted Rose," I can begin to piece some things together. There is one question I need answered.

"Isabella, did you kill Royce?" I ask apprehensively, a little scared of her response. What if she did kill him? It dawns on me once again that I have invited this woman in that I know nothing about. I've brought her into my life and shared things with her and I know next to nothing more than her name and where she is from. Where has my stranger danger alarm gone? When I look at Isabella, I don't see how she could be capable of murder, maybe that's where my fault is.

After minutes of silence, she finally speaks, "I am not sure," she shrugs and pulls a strand of hair between her fingers.

"How can you not be sure if you murdered someone, Isabella?" my voice rises.

Something sparks in her eyes, anger?

"Our friendship had taken a major blow ever since Rose and I met Royce. Jealousy is a bitch, Edward. I had become that bitch. I was so jealous that Royce wanted Rose and not me," she's speaking with a fervor that I haven't seen in her before, "I never gave up fighting for his attention, when he came to our dorm room to spend time with Rose, I would flirt with him right in front of her. She confronted me about it more times than I can count but it didn't stop me. I even went as far as walking around our dorm naked when he was there just to get his attention," Holy shit, she sounds like a little Alice, "About nine months ago, Royce proposed to Rose. When I found out, i admitted defeat. I gave up my quest for Royce, and focused on what I was actually going to college for. I stopped going out, stopped being social. Thinking back, I was doing myself some good," Isabella stops and catches her breath.

"Would you like some coffee or something?" I offer, wanting to take a break from the heaviness that had settled in the room

"Water will be fine," she says. Minnie perks up at the mention of water.

"I'll bring you some, too," I tell her. She lies back down at Isabella's feet. I grab a beer out of my refrigerator for me and a glass and bowl of water for Minnie and Isabella.

Isabella sips on her water and the silence between us is filled with Minnie's loud and sloppy lapping at the water. I drink my beer quickly and steal glances at Isabella. She looks tense, her hand wrapped around the glass so tightly that her knuckles have turned white. This is putting me on edge.

She sets her glass down on my coffee table, "So, I guess you want an answer to your question," she begins.

"That would be nice," I say curtly.

"About two months after they got engaged, Royce began spending the night in our dorm. I had gotten over him, I no longer felt jealousy toward Rose, but I begin to see cracks in Royce's personality. When we would go out I would notice his looks linger on other women, and he became very possessive of Rose. He wanted to know where she was all the time, even though he would disappear for hours, and not tell her why. It was when he turned his attention to me that I became very worried, scared. One time I was heating some lunch up when stepped behind he, grabbed my ass roughly, and whispered in my ear that he wanted to be with me," I could tell her story was taking a turn for the worst, Isabella pulls her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them, "I tried to tell Rose, but she wouldn't believe me. It was kind of like the boy who cried wolf scenario. I had been jealous of her for so long that she didn't believe me. She thought that I was just trying to break them up," this makes sense, "Six and a half months ago is when everything came to a head. I had just gotten done with my last class of the day, and was walking into my dorm room. The door was unlocked so I expected to see Rose in there, but all of the lights were off. Rose never told me that she had made a key for Royce."

"When I turned on my lamp, I found Royce sitting on Rosalie's bed. He grabbed me roughly and told me that he wanted me," she stops and looks at me. I can see the tears about to spill from her eyes, and I offer her a tissue.

"I'm pretty sure you can guess what happened next," she says as she dabs at her eyes. I don't understand how someone can take advantage of another in that way. To me that one of the utmost forms of brutality, "He was too strong for me to fight off."

"Isabella, I am so sorry," I say, meaning every word. She offers me a small smile, "What happened afterward? If you don't mind me asking."

"After he…finished," she says uneasily, "I tried to run out of the room, I was hurt and I needed help. Before I could get out of the room he grabbed my waist and threw me on my bed. His hands gripped my neck roughly and I could feel my breathing become shallower and shallower to where I couldn't breathe anymore," she hugs her legs tighter and rocks back and forth slightly.

"By some miracle, I got a burst of strength and was able to reach over and grab the lamp from my bedside table. I hit Royce in the head with it as hard as I could," I smiled at that, glad that she got her chance to fight back, "He stopped moving and I rolled him off of me and on to the floor. I can still see him lying there on the floor," she cringes, "he looked like he was sleeping. I threw on the first articles of clothes that I could reach and grabbed all of the money I had and ran. I went to my parent's house, which was about thirty minutes away from the university, and picked up Minnie."

"Why did you run? Why didn't you stay and tell the truth?" I ask.

"I didn't think anyone would believe me. I had screwed myself over being so jealous of Rose. The way I saw it was that people would think that I hurt Royce to get back at Rose. At the time, running seemed like the only option for me."

"Why did you bring Minnie?"

"She is my baby; I love her so much. I couldn't leave her behind, and I wanted someone to be with me. I had no idea what I would face; I didn't want to face it alone. If I wouldn't have brought her, I wouldn't be alive right now," she reaches down and rubs Minnie's head.

"So, Emmett says that Royce died two months ago, meaning that you wouldn't have been the one to kill him," I say with some relief.

"I didn't kill him directly, but what if the blow to his head caused him to die?" she says with remorse.

"Isabella," I reach out to touch her hand but she draws it back, "this man took advantage of you in the worst way, and tried to kill you. I'm not God, but I say that he got what was coming to him."

"If my jealousy hadn't got the best of me, none of this would have happened," she looks me dead in the eyes, "It's my fault entirely."

IPOV

"Isabella, it is not your fault that you were raped," Rape, it's a word that I've wanted to avoid. I know it happened to me but sharing it with Edward and hearing him say it makes it feel more real. I can't believe how understanding Edward has been throughout this. The only person who knows what happened to me is this stranger who has opened up his life and living space to me.

"Then why does it feel like it is?" I counter.

"Because you made a mistake, you let a negative emotion get the best of you, it happens to everyone, Isabella. It doesn't warrant the terrible things that Royce did to you, it doesn't make the fact that he _hurt _you okay in any way," the tone in Edward's voice surprises me; he's caring, trying to comfort me. I've relaxed so much in his presence.

"Have you thought about going home? Reconciling everything with your family and Rose, I bet that are worried sick about you."

"I think about it everyday. I want to so much, but I'm terrified of what will there for me. I came to New York knowing that I could be anonymous, just another homeless face in a sea of millions of people. Back home, I will be known as the jealous girl who killed her best friend's fiancé, I don't want that."

"Isabella," I love hearing him say my name, it flows out of his mouth and he says it so gently, "that is not who you are. I may not know everything about you but I can tell that you are not this person. You can be a strong woman if you allow yourself to move on from your past."

I look away from his face and notice how close I have moved to him, my knee is resting lightly against his. This is the first time that I have been able to touch anyone with out cringing or fearing that they will hurt me. This moment is the closest I've allowed anyone to be, physically and emotionally.

I extend my hand out and cover Edward's that is resting on his knee. His responding smile is so beautiful that it forces a grin across my face.

"Thank you, Edward," I feel hopeful.

**Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! I won't have a chapter for next week because I am going out of town, but I hope this one is enough to tide you over. Thank you so much for reading my story and responding to it. I have a Twitter account if you would like to follow me, I will begin posting teasers and things I find that I use as writing inspiration, find me at /kel182291. Thank you all again for reading, please leave a review telling me what you think!**


	8. Rise Part 1

_Rise  
Throw away  
The charade of your life  
Let the flame of my heart  
Burn away  
Your complacence tonight  
I command you to rise  
Wash away  
The decay of your life  
Feel the light of your eyes  
Find the way  
Through the darkness tonight  
Fearing no one_

_Rise-_ Disturbed

EPOV

"What should I do?" Isabella asks, still resting her hand on mine. She had really surprised me with that small gesture. I felt like she was really beginning to trust me.

But, what should she do? "I'm not necessarily sure I know an answer to that question," I start, "maybe you should talk to Rosalie; find out what really happened to Royce?" Her face pales and her eyes widen.

"I-I don't really think I could," she draws her hand back to her lap and bounces her leg nervously; "Rose hates me. She would call the cops the moment she saw me, and she should I'm a criminal," she finishes with a trembling voice.

"How do you know if Rose hates you? You haven't even talked to her since the incident, and as for a criminal, I don't believe you are," I try to comfort her.

"I just need some time, some time to think about what I want to say."

"You've had nearly seven months," I point out.

She looks at me pointedly, "I know, but her being _here_ changes things. I don't know how to go about saying the things that need to be said. What if she doesn't believe me? What if she won't even talk to me or look at me? What if-?" Isabella's question is cut off by the buzzing of the washing machine. I place her clothes in the dryer and return to the couch.

She has her eyes closed and her head resting against the back of the couch, "What if she can't forgive me? What if I've lost my best friend forever?" she says quietly. Minnie, sensing that Isabella is upset, sits up and places her paw on Isabella's leg and nuzzles her head under Isabella's hand.

"If you don't try, you'll never have any answers to your 'what ifs,'" I offer, "Rosalie deserves to know what happened that day, and you deserve the life you once had."

"Thank you, Edward," she says as she looks into my eyes, hers filled with emotion and longing. I smile in return. 

A feeling of resolve seemed to settle in Isabella, and she opened up to me. I asked her simple, mundane questions; her favorite color, which is purple, by the way; her favorite food, steak, I was quite surprised by that; her favorite type of music, mainly rock, _thank God_. She would ask me the same questions in return.

She was letting me into her life and while she still had sadness in her eyes, I could see a spark of excitement and hope building in them as well. Like when she laughed, her entire face lit up and she looked like she should, a beautiful twenty-two year old woman with a happy life ahead of her.

IPOV

"How old are you?" I ask. We had been questioning each other for awhile, getting better acquainted with one another.

"Twenty-seven," he says proudly.

"Ew, three years away from thirty," I joke, "old man."

"Yeah, yeah," he smiles, and then yawns.

"Is it past your bed time, old man?" he shoots her a dirty look and glances at the clock hanging on the wall.

"Seeing as how it is twelve thirty, I would have to say that, yes, it is past my bedtime, ya little whippersnapper," he says imitating an old man's voice. Ugh, I really don't want this to end, I loved having someone to talk to besides Minnie, the fact that it was Edward just made it all the better.

I stand up and gather my things from the kitchen table and Minnie meets me at the door.

"Where are you going?" Edward asks as I open the door.

"We're leaving so you can get some sleep," his face softens.

"You don't have to leave, you can stay here," Edward says sweetly.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," he smiles, "You can sleep in my bed and I'll take the couch," He was going to let me sleep in his bed? I couldn't do that.

"No way, if you're going to let me stay here I can't take your bed from you," I set my things down, "I can't kick you out of your bed after everything you've done for me, I'm sleeping on the couch."

"I've only brought you a blanket and some food," he says nonchalantly.

I step in front of him and stare into his eyes, "_Only?_ You've done so much more than bring me some food and a blanket, Edward. You've brought me into your home and your life. You talked to me and comforted me before you even really knew who I was. You know, I expected you to not want anything to do with me after I told you what I caused to happen to me, but here I am. You've made me feel like I'm human again, like I'm actually worth something," tears sting my eyes but I blink them back, not wanting to break down again, "Thank you so much, Edward," I say, completely grateful.

"You're welcome, Isabella," he slowly reaches up and tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

To anyone else it would be a small, simple gesture, but for me it felt like a break through, "I'll get you a blanket and a pillow if you're set on sleeping on the couch."

I nod as he steps around me and disappears into his bedroom.

I take the blanket that Edward had previously given me and laid it out on the floor for Minnie who curls up on it immediately.

Edward returns and drapes the new blanket across the arm of the couch, "Looks like she settled in fast," he says nodding at Minnie, "I don't have to work tomorrow, so I'm planning on sleeping in. If you wake up before I do, you're welcome to anything in the kitchen if you're hungry, and you know where the bathroom is," he glances around his apartment," I think that's everything. Good night, Isabella."

"Good night, Edward," I smile.

EPOV

"Edward," Isabella's voice floats softly in my ears. I smile in response and roll onto my side to find her.

"Isabella," I say her name just as softly as she said mine.

"Edward, wake up," her voice calls.

"I don't wanna," I mutter.

"Edward, _please _wake up," this time her voice sounds panicked.

I open my eyes to see Isabella's face inches from mine, "Whoa," I say, surprised to see her so close, "What's wrong?"

"Edward, someone is knocking on your door, I think it's that Alice girl," she says worriedly.

Shit, fuck, damn. What could Alice want?

"What time is it?" I ask sleepily.

"About five thirty," Isabella answers in a yawn.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I say as I throw my comforter off of my body and get out of bed.

As I open the bedroom door Minnie trots in and stands next to Isabella.

I open my apartment door to see Alice standing in the hall with shopping bags in each hand.

"It's five thirty in the morning, Alice, what the fuck do you want?"

"I went Black Friday shopping for you!" she giggles as she pushes past me and into my apartment.

"Alice, this has got to stop," I say sternly. I can feel my anger boiling in me. She places the bags in the middle of the floor and turns to me. I can hear Minnie growl from my bedroom but Isabella quiets her before she gets too loud.

"Eddie, just look at all of the stuff I bought you. How can you talk to me like that after everything I've done for you?" she sticks her bottom lip out in a pout.

"Alice, take all of that shit and get out of my apartment now," I demand. She folds her arms across her chest.

"Not until you give me a chance," she puffs, "Edward, I could love you so well. I know that you feel for me," she steps closer to me, "Why are you trying to hide it?" For a second, I wondered if Isabella was like this to Royce.

"Alice, I do not, nor have I ever loved you or felt anything stronger for you than friendship. Now, if you don't leave, I will call the cops," I can't take her bullshit much longer.

"Fine, Edward, but one day you will love me and you're going to see just how wrong you are turning me away like you have been," she moves past me and out the door, leaving all of the shopping bags behind. I seriously have to do something about her. She's not stable, and I can't keep doing this back and forth thing with her.

I step over the bags and walk back into my room. Isabella is standing by the door, looking like a little kid who just stole the cookie from the cookie jar.

"So, you heard all of that?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

"She's insane!" Isabella exclaims.

"I'm sorry you had to hear all of that," I say as I sit on my bed, "and I'm sorry she woke you up."

"It's okay; I'll fall back asleep in no time."

"Good, well, sweet dreams, Isabella," I pull the covers over me as she exit's the room.

IPOV

God, did I lie about being able to fall asleep. It's close to seven o'clock and I haven't been able to sleep a wink. Maybe Edward was too sleepy to remember that he only had on a pair of boxers when he rolled out of bed to handle Alice's intrusion this morning. I couldn't get the image of his body in those tight, black boxers out of my head. His abs, and oh-so-happy-trail were highlighted by the black waistband that read _Calvin Klein_. My mind kept venturing to places that it had no business venturing to, no matter how hard I tried to steer it away.

I must have drifted off at some point in time because I awoke to Minnie licking my face.

"Sorry, sweetie. Do you need to go out?" I ask her. She jumps up excitedly and runs to the door. I tie the make-shift leash to her collar and take her outside for a walk; we don't stay out for long due to the cold weather.

We return to the apartment to find Edward still sleeping. I fix Minnie a meal of leftover turkey and stuffing, and she eats while I treat myself to a shower.

**Hello! So, I know I have failed miserably at keeping up with my update schedule, and I am terribly, terribly sorry about that. My classes started back and I have been very busy with them, but I promise I will keep posting even though I can't promise there will be a chapter every week. I hope you all don't mind too much and still continue to read my little tale. This is part one of this chapter, I wanted to stop it so that I could post it to let you all know that I am still writing, it's just taking me a bit longer than it used to, part two will be up soon. So, after that ridiculously long note, I want to thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you continue to do so! Let me know what you think by leaving a review!**


	9. Rise Part 2

IPOV

I step out of the shower with the scent of my shampoo swirling in the air around me and open the door.

I jump back when I see Edward standing in the door with a devilish smirk on his face, still only wearing those sexy boxers. I grip my towel tighter around me, "What?" I ask suspiciously.

"Your shampoo, I've smelled it before," he states. Panic creeps on me.

"Oh," I say looking down at the bottle, "It's a pretty common brand, maybe some other girl used it here, I got it out of the dumpster," I try to cover the shakiness in my voice.

"Nope, I smelled it in my shower the night that Alice, Emmett and I went out, and I told you that if you got cold you could come inside," Damn, he's good. He's still wearing a smug look.

"I'm sorry," I begin, "I shouldn't have done that or at least I should have told you."

He chuckles, "It's okay, I did invite you. It's just that I smelled the scent of the shampoo that night and thought it smelled so good, but I couldn't figure out what it was, now I know."

I really thought that he would be upset that I snuck up here.

It's silent for a moment and I see Edward's gaze shift down to my towel clad body.

"Do you mind handing me my clothes from the dryer?" I ask, trying to break his gaze.

"Sure thing," he mutters as he walks to the dryer.

I love the feeling of my clean clothes on my clean skin. I dry my hair with the towel and walk out to find Edward.

I'm sad to see that he's put on a long sleeve thermal shirt and flannel pants. Minnie is lying beside him.

Edward looks up at me from the floor, "You want to see what Psycho bought me?"

I sit down across from him amidst all of the shopping bags. He begins plundering through the bags and pulls a set of ornaments from one, "Our first Christmas," he reads with a laugh.

"She's planning ahead," I sneer.

"This is just ridiculous," he remarks, putting the ornaments back in the bag.

I pick up a Victoria's Secret bag and root through the layers of tissue paper. I can't help but laugh as I pull out a leopard print banana hammock.

"What the fuck," Edward says, punctuating each word. I am laughing so hard that my sides hurt. What is wrong with this girl?

My laughing stops when I see the look on Edward's face, he looks completely pissed. He pulls the man-thong from my hands and shoves it in the pink bag, "This shit has got to go," he snaps. He stands and moves all of the bags by the door, "I don't even want to know what else she could have gotten."

"She can't keep doing this; I can't keep dealing with this. I've got enough to take care of without having Psycho Alice popping up where she is not wanted," he says angrily as he stomps to the kitchen and snatches a beer from the refrigerator.

Hearing Edward's raised voice, Minnie steps in front of me and snarls. I take this as our cue to go and I get my things. Edward faces me with the bottle pressed to his lips.

"Um, we can go," I say awkwardly, "I never wanted to be a burden on you."

Edward's face softens and he places his opened beer in the fridge, "Shit, Isabella, I wasn't talking about you. I'm sorry," He steps over to me and rests his hand over mine, "You don't have to go."

EPOV

"I don't want you to go," I say. Isabella looks up at me with surprise.

I honestly don't want her to leave. I'm so drawn to her, her company, her smile, her laugh, I enjoy having her around, but I also know that she is not in the greatest position to be in a relationship and who's to say that she would even want to be in a relationship with me?

"I'll stay," she says in a sigh, "but only under the condition that if I become a burden, you tell me so," she adds. I nod.

She's really going to stay. I'm really going to have someone living with me, someone I met barely a month ago. A someone who has no other place to go and may or may not have caused a person to die.

I have a feeling it's going to be worth it.

IPOV

Four weeks have passed since I've been staying with Edward. I am so thankful that I have a comfortable and safe place to sleep. Not much has changed in our daily routines. Edward gets up and goes to work; Minnie and I sit outside in our spot and hope that some one drops something into my hat.

I've been trying to save every penny that I can, but I always make a contribution to Edward's grocery fund. He tells me it's not necessary but I wouldn't feel right if I didn't help out in some way. It's such a strange situation to be in, I feel like I know Edward, but I have this feeling that I am an intrusion in his life.

Minnie is looking so good, she's gained back some of the weight that she had lost over the last seven months. I guess I could say the same thing about myself. I can no longer play my ribs like a xylophone. I never fully realized just how bad my body had gotten.

Christmas is just four days away. I can't stop thinking about my family, what are they doing, do they miss me? I can see my mom running around the house decorating everything, Christmas is her favorite time of the year. She buys new decorations every year and refuses to use the same ones two years in a row. I wonder what theme she's going with this year. My dad is probably hanging all the lights up on the house according to Mom's orders. God, I miss them.

I haven't tried to contact Rosalie. I know, I know, I'm a coward. She and Emmett have been over to Edward's apartment a few times, and he is always encouraging me to talk with her, but I just can't. When they're over Minnie and I just retreat to our little nook under the stairs. Edward never says anything about me to either of them, thankfully, although he has said that Rosalie mentioned me once when they were talking about her life in Arizona, she said that her best friend went missing and no one had any idea where she was. Did that mean that they missed me?

Edward was supposed to go home to Washington for Christmas, but his parents decided to forgo a family Christmas for a vacation in Mexico. After much planning and frustration on Edward's part, it was decided that his two brothers, James and Garrett, would come spend Christmas in New York. They would be here tomorrow, December twenty-second.

Edward assured me that I could stay in his apartment while they were there. He repeatedly told me that his brothers were not one's to judge someone else and they would probably enjoy having me there. Could I handle being around three guys in one apartment without having a nervous breakdown?

Someone walks by and drops something in my hat. I pull the blanket off of me and pick out a piece of pink paper and unfold it.

_i know. watch out._

The _i _is dotted with a heart and it's written in a girl's handwriting. I look up to see if I can catch a glimpse of who dropped it but there are too many people on the sidewalk to be sure.

Minnie stands up and searches the crowd of people that is approaching. She runs into the crowd and jumps on someone before I can call her back.

"Whoa, girl, easy," I am relieved to hear Edward's voice through the crowd, "Come on, Min," he makes his way over to me with Minnie beside him. I take the money and note out of my hat, pull it onto my head, and stand up.

"Isabella, what's wrong?" he says studying my face, "You look like you've seen a ghost," I hand him the note.

"Someone dropped this in my hat," I mumble. Edward's eyes harden and jaw locks.

"That bitch is absolutely fucking insane," I'm beginning to notice that the only time Edward really curses is when Alice is involved, "Let's get inside," he says. I follow.

"She hasn't been at work for the past week and a half," Edward states as we enter his apartment, "When she was there she avoided me like the plague. She's definitely up to something," he takes out a two beers and hands me one. I don't like beer, but I drink it anyway, hoping it will calm me.

"What can she possibly know about me? How does she even know I exist?"

"She's noticed you before, sitting outside, but as far as I know she's never seen us together," he answers. I get a bowl of water and some food for Minnie and then make my way to the couch.

"Do you think she's been watching you somehow?" I say fearfully, paranoia sinking in.

"How else would she know about you?" he says quietly.

"I can leave," I voice, "I should leave. I've caused you nothing but trouble. It's Christmas, you should be happy, not stressing over Alice…or me. Your brothers will be here tomorrow and they deserve a wonderful Christmas with you, uninterrupted by homeless chick drama," Edward stares at me and remains quiet, "I can't thank you enough for what you've done for me, Edward, but I can't stay here knowing that it's only causing you strife."

EPOV

What Isabella was saying made complete sense to the logical part of me, the part that says this girl needs help that you can't provide, the part that says what she really needs to do is go to the police, instead of live in your apartment, the part that is flashing red warning lights and danger signs. The other part doesn't want a thing to do with logic. It wants Isabella. It wants her to stay here and it wants to continue to learn about her, it's the part that wonders what she is doing while I'm at work and what she is thinking about. That's the part that draws me to her, that wants to reach out a touch her, but resists.

Even though my logic and heart are battling it out, there is something that both are certain of, something has to be done about Alice.

It was one thing to continuously harass me; I take her note to Isabella as a threat, and not one to be treated lightly. I wouldn't tolerate this.

"You can't leave," my heart wins this battle.

"Yes, I can," she says forcefully, "You can't make decisions for me."

"I'm not trying to, Isabella. You're not safe out there," I say calmly trying to reassure her, and not startle Minnie. I feel like we've had this argument a million times.

"Damn it!" she yells suddenly, "I don't fucking want this! I don't want some lunatic threatening me, I don't want to trouble you, and I don't want to be in fucking New York City, thousands of miles away from my home because some asshole raped me!" she's on her feet violently waving her arms around, her face twisted with pain and regret. Minnie is by her side but steps back when I stand and wrap my arms around Isabella.

She tries to push me off of her, I only hold her closer. She finally relents, laying her head against my chest, I can feel my shirt become wet from her tears, "I hate this," she sobs.

I run my hand over her hair, "I'm so sorry," I whisper to her.

There's a knock on the door, "No," cries Isabella, "no, no, no," she steps away from me, "If it's _her_ please don't answer it."

Who ever it is bangs on my door loudly, "Brothaman! Open the door!" I recognize the voice and a smile spreads across my face.

I open the door to see my brothers standing there, "I thought you guys weren't going to be here until tomorrow," I say giving each of them a quick hug.

"We thought we would surprise you early," James says, setting down his bag. I turn around to introduce Isabella to Garrett and James, but she isn't here.

"Well, come in and set your things down, there's beer in the fridge. I'll be right back," I walk to my bedroom to find the door closed. I knock lightly, but there is no response.

I open the door and hear Isabella's quivering voice, "Is Rosalie there?" her back is to me, but I can see my apartment phone pressed to her ear, "Can I please talk to her?" she pauses, "I'm a friend from Arizona. It's important," I stand silently in the doorway, listening, proud that Isabella is finally taking a step in the right direction.

IPOV

"Hello?" my throat suddenly becomes dry at the sound of her voice; "Hello?" she says again, "Emmett, who did you say it was?" I can hear him mumble something in the background, I clear my throat.

"Rose?" there's silence on her end of the line, "Rosalie?"

"Is it really you?" she says quietly.

"Yes," I nod, a tear falling down my cheek.

"Bella?" her voice sounds happy. I feel a small amount of relief that she's giving me a chance.

"Yeah, it's Bella," I smile.

"Oh my God," her voice breaks, "Oh my God, Bella. I've missed you. Where are you? Are you okay?"

She actually still cares about me, I can't help the whimper that escapes and the tears that follow. I stroke Minnie's head that's resting on my knees, "I'm-I'm okay, Rose. I'm so, so sorry… about everything. I miss you too," I blubber. I feel the bed shift behind me and turn to see Edward smiling at me. The sight of his smile reassures me that I am doing the right thing.

"Bella, where are you?" she asks.

"Not far from you, actually," she gasps, "Do you know Emmett's friend, Edward?

"How do you know about Emmett?" she says a bit defensively, "How did you even know how to contact me?"

"Edward," I say, "I've been living in New York City, outside of Edward's apartment, but we've become… friends," I explain, happy to think of Edward and me as friends.

"I can't believe all of this, Bella. We've been over there many times and he's never said anything about you."

"I asked him not to, Rose, don't be upset with him," I wouldn't want to cause a riff between Edward and Emmett.

"You said you were living outside of Edward's apartment, what do you mean?"

"I didn't have anywhere to go, Rose. Until about a month ago, I lived in the streets," I say ashamedly.

"Bella," she whispers pitifully.

"I know. Rose, do you think that, maybe, I could see you? Get a chance to explain everything?" I send up a silent prayer, hoping that she will give me a second chance.

"I would love that, Bella," she says softly, "Emmett and I are leaving tomorrow to go to his house for Christmas but we'll be back the day after Christmas. We can get together then."

"That's wonderful, Rose. Thank you."

"Well, Emmett's got dinner ready. Bella, I am so glad to hear from you and so happy to know that you are okay. I've missed my best friend so much, I love you JellyBelly," happy tears trickle down my cheeks. Rose still counts me as her best friend.

"I love you too, RosiePosie," those were our nicknames for each other. I hang up the phone and lay it on Edward's bedside table.

I can't erase the smile that has etched its way onto my face, if Rose will give me a chance, and then maybe I have a chance at getting my life back on track for real.

"That was impressive," Edward smirks. I throw my arms around his neck, surprising him and myself, "Whoa, there," he laughs and pulls me into a tight hug.

"Thank you, once again, Edward. I would never have done that if it weren't for you."

"You're welcome, sweetie," I disentangle myself from Edward.

"I bet your brothers are wondering what happened to you," I say, getting to my feet.

"Do you want to meet them?" he asks.

"Absolutely," I answer happily.

**And here you go, Part Two. I have to say that I was so happily overwhelmed by the response to the last chapter, I don't think I've ever had as many reviews, favorites and alerts for one chapter as I had for the last one. Thank you so, so, so much! You guys are so awesome! I hope that you all enjoyed reading Part Two, please leave a review telling me what you think about it!**


	10. Chapter 10

_Past the point of no return,  
the final threshold. What warm,  
unspoken secrets will we learn?  
Beyond the point of no return . . ._

You have brought me to that moment  
where words run dry, to that moment  
where speech disappears  
into silence, silence . . .

I have come here, hardly knowing the reason why . . .  
In my mind, I've already  
imagined our bodies entwining  
defenseless and silent and now I am  
here with you: no second thoughts,

I've decided, decided . . .  
Past the point of no return -  
no going back now: our passion-play  
has now, at last, begun . . .  
Past all thought of right or wrong -  
one final question: how long should we  
two wait, before we're one ?

_The Point of No Return_- Phantom of the Opera

EPOV

I am shocked when Isabella launches herself at me and wraps her arms around me. She finally did the thing that she had been dreading and from the sound of it, everything went well. She even seems excited about meeting James and Garrett. Had she forgotten about Alice's note? I sure hadn't.

"Let's go," I say as I lift Isabella off of the bed.

She is so light that lifting her barely requires any effort. Her baggy clothes hid her weight loss well when I first met her, but when I caught a glimpse of her in a towel after her shower I was shocked to see just how thin she was. Thankfully, she has been eating more and putting on more weight.

I set her down and she follows me into the living room. Garrett and James are digging through my cabinets and pulling out random food items.

"Damn, Ed, you don't have any good food," James says as he puts a box of granola bars back into the cabinet.

"I just don't have a ton of shit that's terrible for me," I retort.

Isabella steps beside me, and I clear my throat to get my brothers' attention, "This is Isabella," I say.

She smiles at them, "It's really nice to meet you both," she seems comfortable with them, which puts me at ease.

"It's nice to finally meet the woman that Edward's been talking about so much," Garrett chuckles. Isabella quirks an eyebrow at me and I feel my face redden.

Of course, I've been talking to my brothers about her. I didn't tell them exactly everything that happened to her to bring her to New York, that isn't my story to tell, but I did them how much I liked her and that she was living me.

I'm grateful that my brothers are two of the most nonjudgmental people I know. I told Garrett first; out of the two of them, I am closer to him. He's a year younger than I am, whereas James is two years older. Garrett told me to take things slow, which is the only way I ever wanted to take things with Isabella, but that he supported what I was doing to help her. James had a bit of apprehension when I told him that Isabella was living with me. He was thinking about what was best for me and the possible consequences that could come from allowing her into my life, _like I hadn't already thought of those. _In the end, James gave me his blessing and said that he would support me as well, and I knew that as soon as they met Isabella they would know why. I wonder what they would say about my Alice situation.

Minnie trots in and stands between Isabella and me, "Cool, dog," Garrett says. Before Isabella can warn him, he reaches his hand out to pet Minnie's head, she growls and snaps her teeth, barely missing his fingers, "Holy hell!" Garrett exclaims as he jumps back.

"Minnie, no!" Isabella scolds, kneeling down to reprimand the dog, "I'm so sorry, Garrett. Minnie doesn't do to well with strangers," she explains, "Minnie," she says, petting her head, "These are guests, okay? Good people, you don't growl or bite them, do you hear me?" Minnie looks apologetically into Isabella's eyes, "Now, go lay down." Minnie turns and finds her blanket by the couch and lies down.

"I really am sorry, Garrett," Isabella apologizes once again.

"It's okay," he shrugs, "No, digits lost," he wiggles his fingers in the air.

"How about we order some take-out," I suggest.

"Chinese!" Garrett yells.

"Indian!" James counters. Oh shit, here we go… "We had fucking Chinese food on the way here."

"Indian food tastes like ass," Garrett spits. Isabella looks at me in disbelief. Yes, I know my brothers argue like five year olds.

"Just how many asses have you eaten?" James smirks. I have to laugh at this.

"You're taking his side?" Garrett exclaims.

"I kind of want to know how many asses you've eaten as well," I joke. It's so easy to get Garrett all riled up.

"None," he says running his hand through his hair, "and both of you can go fuck yourselves," he opens the fridge and pulls out a beer, removing the cap and quickly chugging down its contents.

Knowing my position as the middle sibling, I step in as the problem solver, acting as a mediator between my brothers, "How about Isabella chooses?" I propose.

I turn to her, she bites her lip and looks up at me, "Pizza?" she says sheepishly.

"Pizza," James and Garrett say together.

"Pizza it is," I say as I grab my phone.

"I think I'm going to like your girl, Edward," James says. Isabella blushes.

"She's not my, um," I stumble over my words, _my girl, _though I wish she could be, "I'm just going to order the pizza," I pull my phone out and dial the number.

"Three larges with everything," Garrett says.

"Oh, and some hot wings and bread sticks," James adds.

I place the order and hang up, "It will be here in about thirty minutes," I say to them, "Where did Isabella go?"

"She took her dog into your bedroom," James nods his head toward my door. Why would she do that?

IPOV

Edward's parents must be two of the most attractive people on Earth to have produced their three sons. I don't believe I have ever seen three more beautiful men than the Cullen men in my life. Garrett is tanner than Edward and James, with light brown hair that sweeps across his forehead and hazel eyes. His body is rugged, his dark fleece pull-over jacket unable to mask his rather large biceps, and he's got a few days' worth of stubble along his jawline. He looks like those models that you see plastered all over Abercrombie's walls, except better. James, while still muscular, doesn't have nearly the bulk that Garrett does, he's wiry and lean, with blue-green eyes, and dark blonde hair cut very short. But I would have to say that the most handsome is Edward, almost a combination of his brothers' best attributes, and so what if I'm a bit biased?

I can't keep the goofy fucking grin off of my face after James said the whole "your girl" thing, as if Edward would ever want me as _his _girl. I excuse myself and take Minnie to Edward's room. I sit down on his bed and try to dissuade the thoughts that had momentarily stuck themselves in my head.

_Even though he has talked to his brothers about you, it doesn't mean anything._

_You are not nor will you ever be Edward's girl, he's too good for you._

Why did I feel so happy at the mere thought that I could be with Edward? Why can't I stop smiling?

"Isabella, are you okay?" Edward says with a knock on the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answer back cheerfully. Edward enters and shuts the door.

"What are you doing?" he asks, moving to stand in front of the bed.

"Um, just putting Minnie up, I, uh, don't want her bothering James or Garrett for food while we eat," I fib.

"I'm sorry; they can take some time to get used to," he smiles at me.

"They're great," I say, "really."

"I'm also sorry it got kind of awkward there for a moment," here it comes, "I never said that you were, you know, my girl, or anything like that," there goes my smile.

"It's okay," I stand. There's an awkward silence between us, I can feel Edward watching me and I look away.

Edward rocks on his heels, "So, the food should be here any minute."

"Great," I move to the door with Edward following behind me. I feel his fingers wrap around my arm, and I jump, startled by his touch, "What?" I pull my arm quickly from his grasp.

"Isabella, I-," his eyes are closed and he's pinching the bridge of his nose. He looks like he's in pain.

"Edward, what's wrong?" I question, placing my hand on his shoulder.

He opens his eyes, and the softness that was there not twenty seconds ago has been replaced with a hardened, detached stare, "Never mind," he says solemnly, he opens the door and leaves. Minnie looks and me with her head tilted, I shrug my shoulders, "I don't know either, Min. Stay in here and I'll bring you some water later," she lays her head down on her paws, and I exit Edward's bedroom.

It's a good thing Edward ordered three pizzas. I'm staring in astonishment as Garrett and James polish off a pizza each. I'm guessing that the good manner gene is specific to Edward, who is now neatly eating the rest of the last pizza.

Garrett burps loudly as he lies back against the couch and rubs his stomach, "Son-of-a-bitch, Garrett, do you have any fucking decency?" Edward barks angrily.

"Apparently more than you," Garrett bites back, "Cursing like a fool for no reason. What's wrong with you Edward?"

"I don't know," Edward mumbles, what's gotten into him? He takes on that detached look again.

"Well, maybe you should figure it out," James says calmly. Edward stands and takes the empty pizza boxes to the trash. He drinks the last few drops of his beer and drops it in with the boxes.

"You guys want to watch some T.V.?" I suggest, trying to break the tension.

"I think everyone is tired, Isabella. We should just get some sleep," Edward instructs.

"Oh, okay," I say softly, a bit hurt by Edward's tone. I grab Minnie a bowl of water, and retreat to Edward's room. We decided that I could take his bed while James and Garrett were here and they would all share the living room, sleeping on the couch and on an air mattress that Garrett brought.

Minnie laps lazily at the water while I change into Edward's sweatpants and shirt for bed, they're my favorite. I turn the television on and draw back the steel grey comforter and sheets of Edward's bed. I pull the blankets to my chin and inhale, smelling the delicious scent of Edward. God, his bed is so unbelievably comfortable. My eyes grow heavy and I can no longer follow whatever T.V. show is on, "Good night, Minnie," I say drowsily as my eyes shut for the night.

I feel the bed shift and open my eyes sleepily, rolling over to find Edward reclining against the pillow next to me in only his flannel pajama pants. I can't help the spike in my heart rate at Edward's nearness. He doesn't look like he's gotten any sleep, I glance at the clock on the bedside table, its three o'clock, "I'm sorry to wake you up," Edward whispers. What is he doing in here? Minnie stays sound asleep.

"What are you doing in here?" I murmur, trying to rub some of the sleep from my eyes.

"I want to apologize for being so rude earlier, it was uncalled for," he says as I yawn.

"Its fine, Edward. What's up, is it anything you want to talk about?" I ask.

He untucks his side of the comforter and pulls it over his feet, "I've just got a lot on my mind," he folds his hands behind his head, "I'm worried about Alice."

"What?" I snap.

"I'm worried about what she'll do, not her specifically," he explains.

"Oh," I say relieved that he doesn't actually have feelings for her.

"I had actually forgotten about her for a while," I smile, "but thanks for bringing it up," I joke.

"Sorry, maybe we'll be able to get through the holidays without her intrusion, but Isabella, don't take her note lightly, I don't quite know what she's capable of, I really should go to the police about it,"

Whoa, whoa, whoa hold up, "No police please," I whisper, "at least not yet. Edward, what if they find out about me?"

"Isabella, Alice threatened you," he says turning on his side to face me.

"But you said you haven't seen her for a week and half, maybe she's gone somewhere," I try to reason.

He looks at me sternly, "You got the note today, obviously she isn't too far. We can't risk something like this, you've seen the crazy things she's done to me," his face is only inches away from mine. I try to control my breathing as he looks me straight in the eye, "I can't let her hurt you, Isabella," he lifts his hand to my face, but pulls back before he touches me, "We can talk about this more in the morning, I shouldn't have woke you," he removes the blankets from his feet and stands, "Go back to sleep, Isabella. Sweet dreams."

I wake up this time to the smell of coffee, bacon, and maple syrup. _Hell yes_. I slip out of Edward's bed, pull my hair into a messy bun on top of my head, put on my Converse and wake up Minnie for a walk.

I hear the shower running and assume that Edward is in there. I give a quick wave to James and Garrett in the kitchen and jog down the stairs with Minnie. I pull the hood on Edward's sweatshirt over my head and hug my arms to my body. I take Minnie to a small patch of grass so that she can do her business.

There are signs of Christmas everywhere, garlands strung along building facades, wreath's hung on doors, and a light dusting of snow covers the road. People bustle in and out of stores, bundled up in scarves and sweaters and warm boots, carrying various shopping bags and smiling. New York really is a beautiful place.

Minnie whimpers at my feet, I look down to see her shivering, "Sorry, girl. Let's get you back inside."

"Where'd you go?" Edward asks urgently when I step back in the apartment. I remove my hood and shake off the bit of snow that had accumulated on my jacket.

"Just to take Min for a walk, like I do every morning," I answer nonchalantly.

"Oh," he says turning around and piling food on his plate.

"Isabella, we've got breakfast made if you're hungry," Garrett offers as he goes back for seconds.

"It smells delicious, thank you," I get Minnie some dog food, then make my own plate. There is enough food for twelve people spread out across the kitchen counter. I'm beginning to wonder if we can just keep James and Garrett here. I grab a pancake, two pieces of bacon, and some scrambled eggs and join the boys at the table.

"How did you sleep last night?" Edward asks, looking at me.

"I slept very well," I blush, remembering our conversation last night. We had been so close, when he said that he couldn't let Alice hurt me, I could feel something stirring, changing between us. _Or it could have just been your imagination._

EPOV

. After breakfast, my brothers and I bring out all of my Christmas decorations and my tree from my closet. We set the tree up in the living room and Isabella opens the boxes of ornaments up. She hands over some of the ornaments to Garrett, James and I. I really want this Christmas to be good for her, she deserves it.

"Get up here and help us girl," Garrett demands playfully.

She's stands on her tip-toes and reaches to put an ornament on the highest limb, I can't help but smile, her tongue is sticking out in concentration. Before I even realize what I'm doing, I put my hands on her hips and lift her up.

"Edward!" Isabella shrieks, grabbing on to my shoulders in surprise, her smile wide and her eyes joyful.

"Well, are you going to put it on there?" I chuckle. She reaches up with ease and hooks the ornament around the highest branch.

She holds on to my arms as I slowly set her down, "Thanks," she blushes.

"One down, many more to go," James says, handing me a red shiny ornament. I had almost forgotten they were even here with us.

We finish decorating the tree and drape some garland across the mantle of the fireplace. Garrett is playing fetch with Minnie using a reindeer stuffed animal; James has run down to their car to bring up presents to go under the tree.

"Who wants hot chocolate?" Isabella says, setting down four steaming mugs on the coffee table. I hand a mug to Garrett and take one for myself. Isabella settles next to me on the couch and pulls the rubber band from her hair, letting it flow around her face and below her shoulders. Minnie jumps into her lap and curls up under her arms, I never thought I would actually enjoy having a dog in my apartment, due to the hair shedding, barking, and just general upkeep that is necessary, but Minnie is different, she's very human-like, sticking to her schedule of feedings and walkings. She's never had an accident in my apartment; I actually like having her here. She's still wearing my old sweats, and I still get the feeling that she is meant to wear them every time I see her in them.

But, God does she make me nervous. I know I was being an ass last night; I let James' comment play with my head, waging war once again. I want to be with Isabella, I want to kiss her, hold her, and tell her just how fucking special to me she is, but what if she doesn't want the same? What if she just isn't ready? What if Royce's actions have made it impossible for her to get close to anyone anymore, both emotionally and psychically? If Royce wasn't dead already, I would kill him. The situation with Alice was also causing my unpleasant mood, I continuously went through different ways that I could handle it on my own, but none seemed to work out. Going to the police seemed to be the only reasonable thing, but Isabella asked me not to for now. I'm okay with this for the time being as long as Alice stays far away from us.

It's crazy to think that just about two months ago, Isabella was Mickey to me, a homeless girl who wanted help from no one, especially me. Now, I look at her, and I can see that life has come back into her, and I hope that I had something to do with that.

James comes back and places the presents under the tree, I pull mine from my closet and join them with the other presents, now everything is complete.

IPOV

"Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" the bed and me are being jostled around as someone bounces up and down on the side of it. I am nearly flung from the bed when three someones pounce on the bed at the same time.

"Jesus Christ!" I yell as I slam back down on the mattress.

"Merry Christmas!" a chorus of three voices sing.

"Merry Christmas," I mumble as I pull Edward's blanket over my head. It feels like I just went to sleep, why are they waking me up?

"We've got presents to open Izzy! Get up!" I hear Garrett's youthful voice exclaim.

I groan and roll over away from them, those presents aren't going anywhere, "I'm sorry, Isabella," Edward says, "I tried to talk them out of it, but they made me," he laughs. You would think they are still six years old, I can't imagine what Christmas morning is like at their house. I enjoy my sleep too much, Christmas morning at my house never started before nine o'clock. I can see my mom standing over the oven, placing cinnamon rolls on a dish and setting them on the dining room table. My dad is sitting at the table putting together a gingerbread house for my Grams. I find two stockings full of goodies, one for me and one for Minnie, waiting in my spot and Mom wishes me a Merry Christmas.

"Just give me a few minutes," I say softly, small tears form in my eyes. They all retreat from the bedroom. I pick up the phone and dial a number, I know no one will answer, it's the middle of the night in Arizona, but when I hear my mother's voice on the answering machine, I feel comforted.

With dry, but drowsy eyes, I walk into the living room to see Edward standing over the oven placing cinnamon rolls on a plate, I smile automatically, without even knowing that he did, Edward made this Christmas so much better. Minnie is waiting anxiously by Edward hoping that he will drop some food.

"Good morning, Isabella, Merry Christmas," Edward says cheerfully.

"Merry Christmas," I repeat, actually meaning it this time. As we munch on cinnamon rolls, I watch Garrett, Edward and James exchange and unwrap each other's presents.

Edward receives a new iPod from Garrett, and a tie, and beautiful antique gold and onyx cuff links from James. I want so badly to be able to buy something for Edward, to be able give back merely a fraction of what he has given me.

James reveals three envelopes that are from Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, each one addressed to each son.

"I thought we weren't exchanging gifts with Mom and Dad," Edward states.

"Mom gave these to me before they left for Mexico," James shrugs.

"What is it?" Edward asks.

"Why don't we just open them and we'll find out," Garrett says sarcastically, already opening his. James and Edward follow suit and I watch as each of their jaws drop.

"Fifteen thousand dollars?" Edward says in astonishment. Holy shit.

"What is this for?" Garrett says, picking up the card that the check was tucked in and turning it over and over looking for an answer.

"Why would they give us this and then not explain why? Fifteen thousand dollars isn't your normal Christmas present," James says, pulling out his phone and dialing a number.

Forty-five thousand dollars.

For apparently no reason.

I could tell that Edward never really hurt for money, he seemed to be very stable in his finances, is it all from his parents? It seems unlikely due to the stunned expressions on their faces.

"It just went to voice mail," James returns his phone to his pocket.

"We'll try again later," Edward suggests. He turns to me, I'm not exactly sure what expression I have on my face, but Edward waves his hand in front of my face, "Isabella, you all right in there?"

"Yeah," I reply, blinking my eyes in succession.

Edward stands and walks over to the tree where three presents wait with big bows tied around them. He joins me on the couch and hands me a box, "This is for Minnie," he says, at the sound of her name Minnie jumps into Edward's lap. I unwrap the box and pull out a hot pink leash and collar set studded with rhinestones.

"Oh my gosh, Edward," I say overwhelmed by his gift, "It's so beautiful, thank you," I immediately take off Minnie's old, dirty collar and replace it with the new one. It's perfect. Minnie licks Edward's chin and he scratches her head lovingly, he's come so far with her.

"And these are for you," he says and places the other two boxes in my lap.

"Edward, why did you get me presents?" I ask, feeling guilty and thrown off by the gifts, "You shouldn't have."

"Oh, just open it," Garrett declares.

I hesitate, "Isabella, I bought it because I wanted to, please just open it," Edward reassures.

I carefully remove the bow and remove the paper from the box, I lift open the lid and pull out a beautiful, one shoulder indigo dress.

"Edward," I whisper, unsure of just what to say.

"I hope I got the right size for you," he smiles.

"I can't accept this, it's too pretty," I can't keep my eyes off of the dress.

"Of course you can accept it, I got it for you. I thought you would like to have something nice to wear when you meet with Rosalie."

I neatly set the dress aside and pull Edward into a tight embrace, "Thank you so, so much, Edward," I can feel his arms hold me just as tightly, and I think I could stay here forever.

Edward's arms are still around me when I hear Garrett clear his throat; I withdraw my arms from Edward's neck and sit back against the couch, slightly embarrassed.

"You've got one more," Edward reminds me, "It goes with the dress."

I pull off the paper to reveal a pair of black peep toe pumps with ruffles; they are the most gorgeous shoes that I have ever seen.

"Edward, you're amazing," I say truthfully, "Thank you, I know I've said it about a million times, but I've meant it every single time."

"Awe," Garrett and James say in unison, causing me to blush. Edward balls up two pieces of wrapping paper and pelts them with it.

"You are so welcome, Isabella," Edward smiles.

**Hello, lovely people! I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter because I really enjoyed writing it. I've updated my profile with a new avi, and polyvores for outfits in this story, if you're into looking at those sorts of things, please check it out! Thank you so much for reading. Please let me know what you think by leaving a review!**


	11. An Explanation

An Explanation

To all of my lovely readers:

Okay, so I need to apologize for the complete lack of updates for _Stupefy. _I am graduating from college this May and this semester has just been crazy full of work. I want you all to know that I do plan on continuing _Stupefy,_ it's driving me insane not being able to have time to write. I really hope you all understand and will continue to read _Stupefy_ when I am able to post a new chapter. I love all of the support that I have gotten from you all, and I hope that you do not give up on me!

Thank you so so so much!

Kellie


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